Let us turn in our Bibles this
evening, Genesis chapter 39. You cannot read these chapters
which speak of Joseph the life of Joseph and not see the providence
of God. And we should know this, and
I especially speak to all young people here tonight, that in
your life, his providence may not be as apparent as when you
read the life of Joseph. But though it's not apparent,
it is just as sure. Just as sure. The Lord Jesus
assured us that not one sparrow, not one small bird falls to the
ground without your heavenly father. And in Luke's account
of that passage, it tells us not one of them is forgotten
before God. I saw on the news a car out of
control. I believe it was in New York
City. And it slammed into some cars and then to a lady with
her six-month-old baby, pinning her against the wall and the
baby underneath the car. And there was two policemen who
jumped in and the bystanders, and they lifted the car away,
freeing the mother and picking it up so that one of the policemen
was able to get the baby out from underneath the car. And
I say this, because the lady giving the report, she said,
it was lucky that there were two policemen there. And I thought,
Oh, the scripture Psalm 107. Oh, that man would praise the
Lord for his wonderful works unto the children of man. Amen. and women, and many times, no
doubt, we are guilty and have been guilty of doing the very
same thing, but robbing God of His praise and His glory by making
statements like that, because it was God's good providence
that those policemen and those bystanders were there. It didn't
happen by accident that they were there. At the same time,
we are looking at the life of Joseph, we want to see Christ
in these scriptures. We want to hear the words of
the Greeks who came to Philip, recorded in John chapter 12,
and said, Sir, we would see Jesus. And that's our desire. As we
look at the life of Joseph and the things which are recorded
of him, that we may be pointed ultimately to the Savior, to
see Christ. Last time, here in verses one
and two of chapter 39, we read, and Joseph was brought down to
Egypt. And we could not help but remember
that in the New Testament, Joseph, Mary's husband, brought the young
child down into Egypt. That the scripture might be fulfilled
out of Egypt have I called my son." And then we read, brought
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites. that Joseph was
brought into the slave market and sold. And this reminds us
that the Lord Jesus Christ, he was not brought into the slave
market, he came into the slave market. And one of the words
which is translated redeem, the Lord Jesus Christ, his redemption,
he came into the slave market, his people, we were in bondage,
we were in bondage, And he bought us, he redeemed us, and the wonderful
thing about that is not to ever be returned to bondage again. And then we saw here also in
verse two, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous
man. And we know that the Lord God
was with the Lord Jesus Christ, even though he is God himself. God the Holy Spirit was with
him. And he was prosperous, as the
scripture says in Isaiah 53, the pleasure of the Lord. What
is that? The salvation that God purposed,
the pleasure of the Lord, the redemption that God purposed
shall prosper in his hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. He too is
a prosperous man. All that he did prosper. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. That's what God said about his
servant, his son, the Lord Jesus. Well, tonight I have three headings
for us in this message. First of all, Potiphar bought
Joseph. We see that again in verse one.
And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites. Consider this, the
Ishmaelites sold others. They weren't just carrying Joseph
to the slave market. It wasn't just Joseph that they
had carrying him down to Egypt to be sold. They had other slaves
that they had brought there. There was a profit in doing that. They brought other slaves into
the market that day. And other slaves were bought.
Bought by other men. But it was Potiphar. Now this
is what I'm saying about the providence of God. It was Potiphar
who bought Joseph. That wasn't an accident. It was
not an accident that these two were brought together. Joseph
being sold and Potiphar buying him. And that's just one spoke
in the will of God's providence. You see a bicycle wheel and it's
got all those spokes going out? Well, that's just one spoke in
the wheel of God's providence in bringing these two men together. Now, who was Potiphar? Well,
we are told here he was an officer of Pharaoh, a captain of the
guard. In our day, that would mean that
he was the head of Pharaoh's secret service. Just as the president
of our country, the secret service, there's a head of that, and they're
charged to protect the president. Well, this man had the charge
to protect Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And not only was he
the head of his bodyguards, the captain of the bodyguard, but
he was the head of Pharaoh's executioners. You know, these
kings in that day, they were despots, weren't they? When they
said, kill him, the man was killed. When they gave their order, when
someone displeased the king, cut off his head. Well, this
was a man who was charged with carrying out the orders. He was
the executioner of Pharaoh's enemies. What is important about this? It was because of this, because
Joseph was sold to Potiphar that he's going to eventually end
up in prison, yes, but not just any prison. I'm sure there was
more than one prison there. But he didn't end up just in
one prison, but he ended up in the prison where Pharaoh's baker
and butler would be consigned. Now, the second thing, he was
a wealthy man, Potiphar. We know this from his position.
He had business in his house, he had business in the field.
He was such a wealthy man, he had to have an overseer. Can
you imagine how many houses in Egypt, the last thing they ever
thought that they needed was an overseer to oversee their
business, to oversee their land, to oversee their field. But this
man, notice in verse five, it came to pass from the time that
he had made him overseer in his house. This man was wealthy enough
that he needed an overseer for his business. His house was large
enough to have a need of an overseer. And he had business, that is
the overseer did, would have business in the house and also
in the field. And this required a number of
servants. Joseph was just one of a number
of servants in this man's house. He was a wealthy man. He was
part of the aristocracy of Egypt in that day. And one of the writers
pointed out that this man's house, as Joseph was carried there as
a slave, this man's house would be more like a palace. It wasn't
just like a two-room house with a bath. This was a palace that
this man lived in to have the number of slaves that he had.
And from the archaeologists, they have found that the houses
of the Egyptians at this time, or the palaces I should say,
were with hieroglyphs, and many of them, many of them had stretched
out arms, stretched out arms, wings rather, stretched out wings. And so as Joseph was carried
to this man's house, everyone around him spoke a language he
didn't understand, but he would see on the walls These stretched
out wings were whatever they pictured to the Egyptians, but
it would remind him that he himself was sheltered underneath the
wings of Almighty God. Joseph was brought into the house,
a beautiful house. And once again, we are reminded
that while Joseph was separated from his father, Jacob loved
Joseph, we know that. And now he separated from his
earthly father, but not his heavenly father. Not his heavenly father. The Lord was with Joseph. And it became apparent. It became
apparent to his master, to Potiphar, because the Lord made what he
did and what he oversaw to prosper. And prosperity comes from the
Lord. You know, you can take two men
and go into the same business, and both have the same worth
ethics, and both labor, and anyone who's ever owned a business knows
you've got to give it 24 hours, seven days a week, really. And
both men can do the very same thing, and one man, his business
may end up in bankruptcy, and the other man ascend in wealth.
Prosperity comes from the Lord. The scripture tells us that in
the book of Deuteronomy. This man saw that now that he
had Joseph, his slave, as an overseer, that everything in
his house was prospering. He was becoming a very wealthy
man. And you know, I'm sure this is
true of you as it is of me, but when we read verse five, And
it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer
in his house, and over all that he had, now notice this, the
Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. What does that remind you of? It is for Christ's sake that
we are blessed. Isn't that true? That's what
the word of God says. Remember that scripture in Ephesians
4 and verse 32 that we quote quite often. It says, and be
you kind, Paul speaking to believers, be you kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. Now listen, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Why is anyone forgiven? Because of their good deeds?
Because of their church baptism? Because of their morality? Why
is anyone ever forgiven their sins? For Christ's sake. That's the only reason. For Christ's
sake. It's not our works. It's not
even our faith or our repentance. Both are important. downplay
that at all. We must believe. We must repent. But my faith and my repentance
does not merit forgiveness. The only thing that merits forgiveness
is the blood of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His atonement. For Christ's sake, this man saw
that for Joseph's sake, God was blessing him. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born, remember the angel told Joseph and also told Mary what
he should be called. And he told Joseph, he shall
be called Jesus, for he, he alone, without any help from any man,
he shall save his people from their sins. The second thing, Potiphar's
wife. So first of all, we saw Potiphar bought Joseph. Now,
Potiphar's wife tempted and falsely accused Joseph. Now let me just
say these few things about Joseph being tempted to commit fornication
with Potiphar's wife. Now he didn't have the seventh
chapter of Proverbs. to read and to warn him of the
strange woman. Look over with me to Proverbs
chapter 7. We have this chapter. Joseph didn't have it. Proverbs
chapter 7. Beginning with verse six, the
writer said, for at the window of my house I looked through
the casement and behold among the simple ones I discerned among
the youths a young man void of understanding. Passing through
the street near her corner and he went the way to her house.
And in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark of night,
And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and
subtle of heart. She's loud, stubborn, her feet
abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the
streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. And she caught
him, this young man, without understanding. She caught him
and kissed him. And with an impudent face set
unto him, what she's tempting him to do, she's doing in the
name of religion. What did she say? I have peace
offerings with me today. Is that right? You have peace
offerings, offerings to give to God for peace, and yet what
you're attempting this man to do is against God? Religion has been used by men
to cover up their sins, but there's no covering up from God. She
said to this man, unsuspecting, I've paid my peace offerings,
and not only that, this day have I paid my vows. I've been to
church. I've been to church. I've taken
care of what the law commanded me to do. Therefore came I forth to meet
thee. So somehow this makes it okay
for what she's tempting this young man to do. Somehow this
makes it okay because she's got her peace offerings and she's
paid her vows this day. Therefore came I forth to meet
thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee,
and I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry. with carved
works with fine linen of Egypt. You hear that advertisement from
Mr. Pillow? He makes his sheets from
cotton that comes from that special place there in Egypt. It's supposed
to be special cotton, right? You sleep on those sheets and
you never want to sleep on another sheet. Well, there must be something
special about Egypt and the cotton, the linen that came from Egypt.
That's what she said, with fine linen of Egypt. I perfumed my
bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our
fill of love until the morning. Let us solace ourselves with
loves. Now notice, for the good man,
my husband. That's who she's talking about.
For my husband is not at home. He's gone on a long journey.
He'd taken a big bag of money with him. He's not going to come
home until the day appointed. With her much fair speech, she
caused him to yield. With the flattering of her lips,
she forced him. He goeth after her straightway
as an ox goeth to the slaughter. or as a fool to the correction
of the stocks, till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth
to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life." Joseph
didn't have that passage of scripture to read, but what Joseph did
have, he had He had character. He had strength
of character. No doubt his father had taught
him the truth about God. You know, morality. We're living in a day when there
doesn't seem, most people think there's no rules to determine
what is right and what is wrong. And they said, well, what's right
for me may not be right for you, and what's right for you may
not be right for me. There has to be a standard. There
has to be a standard of what's right and what's wrong, and the
standard is God's law. And that law was written upon
the heart of Adam in creation, and though that image of God
is marred in Those of us who are Adam's posterity, yet the
law is still written upon our heart and we know what is right
and what is wrong. And the standard is not what
society says is right and what is wrong, but what God said is
right and what is not right. He didn't have that chapter,
but he did have strength of character to resist the temptation. And
we will never improve over this word that he spoke in verse nine
when tempted by Potiphar's wife. He said, how then can I do this
great wickedness and sin against God? Joseph, are you sure about
that? You're going to sin against God?
Aren't you going to sin against your master, Potiphar? Yes. Aren't
you going to sin against his wife? Yes. Aren't you going to
sin against yourself? Yes. But ultimately, it is sin
against God. All sin is against Him. How then can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God? You know, he could have reasoned,
and I'm sure he was tempted by the flesh. Like all of us, even
those who are saved, we still have that old nature, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. He could have reasoned. No one
will ever know. I'm not going to tell anyone,
and she won't tell anyone. Oh, no one will never know. But he knew, God did. God knew. No matter what anyone
else knew or didn't know, God knew. Think about Moses, when
he killed that Egyptian, hid his body in the sand, looked
this way and that way, it says, and he didn't think anyone saw
him. And so the next day, he tries to separate two Israelites,
and they asked him, you gonna kill me like you killed that
Egyptian yesterday? He couldn't hide that from men,
sure couldn't hide it from God. I think of that verse of Hagar
when she was out there in the wilderness, running away from
her master, Sarah, her mistress, I should say, Sarah. And God
appeared to her. And she named that place, thou
God that seethes me. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the God we worship. That's the God we love. He sees
us. He knows all things. His flesh,
no doubt, could have reasoned like, no one's ever going to
know about this. Or here's something that's even
more subtle. And this has entrapped many people. do this, if I give in to her
temptation, I'm going to not only have favor with her husband,
now I'm going to have favor with her. That will put me in a position
to do even more good. How many people have been tempted
to do wrong, thinking that by doing wrong, ultimately it will
put them in a position where they can do more good? It doesn't work that way, does
it? It just doesn't. Had he succumbed to her temptation,
he would never have become the prime minister of Egypt. And
he would never have had his own family. Just a few things as
I thought about this, this temptation this past week, I wanted to mention Surely the temptation was unexpected. He didn't expect, surely he didn't
expect this would happen, that this woman would tempt him to
commit fornication. It was unexpected. And that simply
reminds us that Christians, we must always be on guard for the
unexpected as long as we are in this world. And a second thing
about this temptation, it was prolonged. If you notice in verse
10, it says, and it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by
day. It wasn't just a one-time temptation. This thing was going on for some
time. And this reminds us that we will
always, as long as we are in this world, be subject to temptation. I remember reading in the Reformation
John Knox. John Knox learned the gospel,
studied under Calvin in Geneva, and went back to his homeland
of Scotland. And God greatly used him in Scotland
in preaching the gospel. But when he was on his deathbed,
he seemed to go into a coma. People thought he had died, really,
and then he He came back conscious and spoke. And this is what he
said. He said, I've just experienced
the greatest temptation I've ever experienced in my life,
because I was tempted to trust in what I have done, how God
has used me here in Scotland, preaching the gospel. I was tempted
to trust in my own works and to look away from Christ. And
that was on his deathbed. He soon passed away. And a third thing, I don't believe
Joseph put himself in the way of temptation. Now, I say this
believing that he had to go into that house. There was business
that it was his job. It was his work to conduct business
that had to be conducted in the house. And he was probably unaware
this day that he was the only man in the house that the other
servants were not there, that he was this time alone with his
mistress. But the point is he was falsely
accused of doing what he would not do. The Lord Jesus Christ,
how does this remind us of Christ? Well, he too was tempted. He
was falsely accused. We know that after he fasted
40 days in the wilderness, and remember this, God the Holy Spirit,
one gospel says, drove him. Drave him into the wilderness.
He was led into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days and
at the end of those 40 days, Satan came with those three temptations
we're all aware of, to turn the stones into bread and be on the
pinnacle of the temple to cast yourself down and people will
know then that you truly are the son of God, or to fall down
and worship me and all these kingdoms of the world will be
thine. Well, they weren't Satan's to
begin with. Remember this about Satan, he's the father of lies.
He's the father of lies. And that was one big lie, just
like he had the power to give Christ the kingdoms of this world. What did our Lord pray in the
model prayer? Thine is the kingdom and the
glory and the power forever and ever. The Lord Jesus Christ was tempted,
yet without sin. And the fact that he was tempted
reminds us, and this is so important to every child of God, it reminds
us that he can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He knows what you're going through. You say, well, he didn't go through
that. Well, he went through everything
that man may go through without sin. And whatever the test, the
temptation is, And God's children go through many. I understand
that. Sometimes loneliness is a great
trial that some of God's children go through. He knows what that
is. He knows what that is. He can
be touched with the feelings of our infirmities no matter
what they are. Why? Because he was tempted in
all points, yet without sin. He was falsely accused. Remember,
he was accused of blasphemy. He was accused of blasphemy.
Joseph was accused to his master of committing fornication. That
was a lie. It wasn't the truth. He would
never do that. So the Lord Jesus Christ was
accused of blasphemy by telling the truth when the high priest
charged him. Art thou the Christ, the son
of the blessed? I charge thee, art thou the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed? Now he had to answer. And his
answer was, I am. And so he was charged with blasphemy. They told Pilate, according to
our law, he's worthy of death. Because he, being a man, makes
himself equal with God. The third point, and I'm almost
through. Potiphar put him in prison. Potiphar
put Joseph in prison for what he had not done. If you look in chapter 40, Genesis
chapter 40 and verse 20, Now I've been, over the years, I've been in several jails. I
wasn't convicted as a criminal. But I visited some people over
the years. I preached in prison. And I'll
say this, I've never been in one of them that was a nice place.
Some were nicer than others, no doubt about that. But they
all had a smell about them to me. And I think it's some kind
of stuff they use maybe to purify. That's not the word I want to.
What's Lysol that spray? What does it do? Disinfect. Disinfection. I believe they use some kind
of disinfection. But there's always trash and
noise and all of that. I've never been in a prison that
I would want to go to and stay there. But some are worse than
others. And this prison that Joseph was
put in, the word that's translated prison, when Joseph tells the
butler that he was brought into this prison, is the same word
that is used describing the prison in which Jeremiah was put. Jeremiah
was put in the prison, and remember it says this, when Jeremiah was
let down in the prison, he sunk in the mire. Most of the prisons
were some kind of cisterns, something like maybe a cave or something
they could put a rock over at night. Daniel when he was put
in the lion's den something like that these caves of these prisons
were not they were not Nice places air-conditioned and all of that
you know that just wasn't the way But even so it was the prison
where the king's prisoners were put Wasn't just any prison And
this is important, for in any other prison, now think about
it, any other prison, he would not have met the king's butler,
who later would tell Pharaoh, I met a man. I met a man when
you put me in prison, Pharaoh, who can interpret dreams. I know there's a man. by the
name of Joseph. And so Pharaoh sins for Joseph.
It wasn't just any prison. Can this truth at least, let
me say this in closing, can this truth, the fact that he was put
in prison, remind us that the Lord Jesus Christ's body was
placed in the prison of the grave. But like Joseph, he was not to
remain there. For he had God's promise, thou
shalt not leave my soul in Hades or my body in the grave, in that
place of disunion between the body and the soul. He had God's
promise that he would be brought up out of the grave. And just
as Joseph was brought out of the grave and raised to the throne,
so the Lord Jesus Christ. brought out of the grave, and
tonight he is on the throne of God. And it's called the throne
of God and of the Lamb. That's where he is tonight. And
one day, by his wonderful grace and mercy, I hope to be there
with him. Don't you? Be where he is, wherever that
is, that's going to be heaven to be with him who loved us and
gave himself for us. Let us sing a hymn and we'll
be dismissed.