It Came To Pass - Genesis 39:1-23

[0:00] Good morning, everybody. Remember last week we were in Genesis 38, and we took a little kind of a scene change from the life of Joseph, and all of a sudden we spent a whole chapter with Judah.

[0:13] Spent 20 years with him. That covered his life. Now we're kind of backing up and hitting rewind. If you still have your old VHS tapes, you hit rewind, and you've got to wait for that thing to rewind before you can watch it again, right?

[0:25] So we're rewinding. We're going back to where we left off with Joseph. He was thrown in the pit. He was sent down to Egypt. He was sold to the Ishmaelites. And now we're going to pick up back with his narrative.

[0:36] So we know where Judah ended at the end of 38, where he ended 20 years later. He has sons, and he's got grandchildren. Well, now we're backing up, and he wouldn't have been married yet.

[0:50] He's at when he's younger. And Joseph is 17, been sold as a slave into Egypt. The title for today's message is, It Came to Pass.

[1:01] Come up? Yeah. Can anybody see that? It came to pass. We're going to see the word. The word for it came to pass in the Hebrew, in this text, is the word, Hayah.

[1:12] It's like, Hayah. You know? It means become, exist, come to pass, to happen, to fall out. And it occurs in 13 different verses, more than 13 times, sometimes multiple places in the scripture.

[1:25] But in Genesis 39, that word comes up 13 times. It's very repetitive. And it came to pass. And it came to pass. And a lot is going to come to pass in Joseph's life as we walk through this.

[1:38] Remember, we said that Joseph was a young man who prioritized faithfulness. We saw that when he was with his father, when he went out and was kind of being groomed to take over the family business, that he was a young man who prioritized faithfulness.

[1:52] That despite his dysfunctional family, despite all of his siblings being off the wall, he had come to where he knew that his purpose was to glorify God. And he prioritized that faithfulness.

[2:03] And then God gave him those dreams to speak to him and to give promises to him and to his family. And he faithfully relayed that to his family. And they didn't like that. So they rejected him. Abraham was the father of faith.

[2:15] Jacob, Isaac, the son of promise. Jacob, the man of the covenant. And we see that Joseph is the son of favored or the favored son. Favor rests upon him.

[2:27] Our theme scripture for the life of Joseph, I think pretty much, is Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.

[2:40] That the thoughts that God has, in spite of the circumstances, as we go through Joseph's life, God's thoughts, God's plans, they don't change. And they're not gonna change, no matter how it may appear.

[2:52] So picking up in verse one of Genesis chapter 39. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. That word down means to prostrate or to sink, to fall before.

[3:04] And whenever we go down to Egypt as a type of the world, it's always going down. When you go to Egypt, in scripture it's always represented as going down. Nobody goes up to Egypt. They went down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.

[3:24] So here comes Joseph into Egypt as a slave and goes on the slave block. And Potiphar buys him. Belonging to the son is the name Potiphar.

[3:36] The meaning in Egyptian means belonging to the son or the house of the son. And, you know, he worshiped the son God. And here this pagan man, who's the captain of Pharaoh's guard, probably his personal guard, buys Joseph.

[3:48] I'm sorry I didn't show you the outline. I forgot to do that. Our outline for today, it came to pass, verses one through two, it came to pass, Joseph was blessed. Verses three to six, it came to pass, Joseph was favored.

[4:00] Seven through 12, it came to pass, Joseph was faithful. 13 through 18, it came to pass, Joseph was accused. And then 19 through 23, it came to pass that Joseph, he moves forward.

[4:15] But Joseph was in Egypt and that represented isolation. Isolation from God's people, from God's promised land, from the place that God's blessing was. But as we saw last, well, two weeks ago, as we're going to see this week, that Joseph's isolation could not isolate him from God's presence and God's promise and God's purpose.

[4:34] And the Lord was with Joseph in verse two, and he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And here we see that word again, haya, haya, where it says, the Lord was with Joseph.

[4:47] That is, haya, Jehovah, haya. And so it's saying that here it is, and it came to pass, Jehovah, or God became. Essentially, literally, that Jehovah became for Joseph.

[5:02] Whatever Joseph needed, Jehovah became at this point. The Lord was with Joseph and the Lord became what Joseph needed. And at this moment, God appeared the furthest away from Joseph.

[5:14] Joseph appeared the least prosperous. You wouldn't look at this young man and say, well, man, God is with you and you are prospering. It's like, my brothers threw me in a pit and then sold me because they didn't want to kill me.

[5:25] Now I'm a slave in this man's house and you're saying, God is with me and prospering me? The Lord at this point becomes everything to Joseph because he has nothing left.

[5:35] God has stripped away everything out of Joseph's life and then he steps in and says, Joseph, I will become. I will become everything. Remember what Joseph's name meant? Jehovah will add.

[5:47] When Rachel had Joseph in faith because previously she said to Jacob, give me children or I die. And then she has Joseph and she realizes Jehovah will add. He will add another child, another son.

[5:59] It's not something that man can do. And here Joseph now is living that out. But Joseph, as he goes down into this house, it says that God blesses him and God prospers him in the Egyptian's house.

[6:11] And we're going to see as we go through this that Joseph knew who he was. No matter where he was, this young man knew who he was at this point in his life. Proverbs 15, 33 says, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility.

[6:29] Right? The world thinks they gain honor through pride, through like showing themselves the man. But that's not true. All they do is they gain a reputation for usually being a very disagreeable person.

[6:40] Before honor is humility. Humility is simply a modest estimate of one's own worth. Right? It's not humility if you're really good at, I don't know, art and like you do some amazing painting and someone says, that is so good.

[6:53] And you go, no, it's not. It's just, it's terrible, isn't it? Right? That's pride because what you're wanting is please say something else about how good it is. You know? Well, no, no, no.

[7:03] It really is good. No, it's not. No, it really is. Tell me more. Right? Humility says, yeah, I'm, you know, thank you. That took a lot of work and I'm really, I bless God that he's given me the skill to do that.

[7:14] That's humility. Accepting who you are and what the situation really is. And Joseph has that. He's able to have a modest, a real estimate of his own worth and of who he is.

[7:27] Hebrews 5.8 tells us Jesus had that. That though he were a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. That through humility, through suffering, Jesus learned, Jesus needed to learn that Jesus walked out being a son among us as he came and dwelt among us.

[7:46] There's an interesting verse tucked away in Psalm 105 where David is rehearsing the history of Israel. And he gets down to where he's talking about them going into captivity. And it says this in Psalm 105 beginning in verse 17.

[8:01] It says that the Lord sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters and he was laid in iron. That's a, not the best translation.

[8:13] It literally, literally means iron entered his soul. that he was sold into slavery, whose feet they hurt with fetters. So that gives us a picture of, you know, him as a slave being transported from, I don't know, a week, two week journey from Israel down into Egypt.

[8:28] But iron entered into his soul because he thought, nah, no one's ever going to do this to me again, right? What was the iron that entered his soul? Until the time that his word, God's word, came, the word of the Lord tried him.

[8:40] So until the time that God's word was fulfilled, that promise, man, that promise continued to refine him. And to try him and to prove him. It's like, God, you promised me. You promised me. You gave me these dreams.

[8:50] You promised that you would use me to be a deliverer. You promised that that you would bless my life. Where is that? Instead of losing faith, that promise continued to just work iron in his soul.

[9:01] Over and over, he came back to that and said, no, God, I'm going to believe your word and I'm going to trust you. He was a prosperous man. Did that mean he had a lot of bling? You know? No. Prosperous means to do well, to advance, or to rush or pour out.

[9:14] It's like having an overflow. You have so much, it's just overflowing, right? It means to advance forward in something. They prospered in their journey. They continued on and to do well. And so then Potiphar sees this and his master saw that the Lord was with him, that Jehovah was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hands.

[9:34] So this is very visible. When Potiphar looked at Joseph, he saw Jehovah. When he looked at this faithful son of favor, he saw God. He saw that reflection.

[9:46] You know, how did he see that? Was he like a, like he was like shiny hair? You know, just like that he always just kind of like seemed really holy. What was he called to do? What was he given to do? He was a servant.

[9:57] He was called to work and to serve. And everything that he did, God blessed. Well, that means he had to be doing something and he had to be doing it well. And Potiphar saw this.

[10:09] And Joseph found grace in his sight, literally favor, and he served him. And he made him overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his hands.

[10:20] God's favor and blessing was upon Joseph. God's presence was on Joseph. What did that lead to? Say, God, thank you for blessing me. Thank you for making me prosperous. Man, I'm sure I'm going to be back to the land of promise in a week because God is with me, right?

[10:35] It led to humility. It led to service. It led to trust. His humility and his service led to others placing their trust in him. And he becomes this overseer, literally minister.

[10:48] He was the minister of Potiphar's house. And Jesus said in Matthew 23, beginning in verse 11, he said, but he that is greatest among you, well, he shall be your servant. And whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.

[11:01] If you try and exalt yourself, I'm going to be great. All you're doing is setting yourself up for a fall. It's a spiritual principle. It's not something that is an option. Well, if I do this right, I'm sure I can be exalted.

[11:14] But he that shall humble himself, humbling of self, shall be exalted. You know, Potiphar was very wise in this as well, to see God's hand in Joseph and to see, I've never had a, I've never had an employee like this.

[11:29] I mean, this guy, you know, I brought him in at the lowest level. I bought him as a slave. Now, let's see your application, right? And then it's like, everything I put in his hand, he's just faithful with.

[11:40] He's just, and God seems to be, something is working in his life that is just prospering. And so whatever's been placed into Joseph's hands, the son of favor, he's caring for.

[11:51] And it just makes me think of Jesus in John 10, the son of favor, the ultimate favored son, right? Because that's the picture that we get in Joseph, where he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life.

[12:05] That's a present tense. Eternal life is a present, a present state of being. It's not a future thing. It's present that lasts into eternity. But it's a present thing to own.

[12:16] And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, right? Everything that's put into his hand is going to prosper too. Are you in his hand? Am I in his hand? Man, then I know that, you know what, Lord?

[12:28] You're going to prosper this. My life in your hands is a good thing. And it came to pass, and here's our word, it came to pass, or haya, and it came to pass from that time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.

[12:46] And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. Who was blessed? Because of God's presence, God's favor, and God's promise in Joseph's life, was Joseph blessed?

[12:58] Now God's blessing on Joseph resulted in a blessing in someone else's life. Joseph's situation still was not the best. God's blessing comes by way of the son of favor, right?

[13:10] God's blessing came to Potiphar's house, and God's blessing comes to our house through the son of favor. 1 John 4, 9, John writes, in this was manifested, in this was shown, or by this does this come.

[13:25] How does the love of God come towards us? By this was manifested the love of God towards us, because God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.

[13:35] God's blessing comes through the son of favor. That's how he does this. And God's presence in Joseph's life, man, it led to blessing in another's life. Paul would write the same thing in 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 5.

[13:48] He says, for we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. So Paul's saying, the work God's doing in my life, well, it's for you.

[13:59] It's to bless you. It's not for me. You know, that word, to become, or came to pass, it appears a lot in the text. And I think it's trying to tell us there is a good amount of time that's passing here.

[14:12] Joseph, when he's raised to be the leader over Egypt at that point, he's in his late 20s, or no, he's about 30, because then there's seven years of plenty, and then two years into the seven years of famine, Israel, with all of his children, come.

[14:35] And he says to Pharaoh, at the time when he's presented, he says, I'm 130 years old. So we can work backwards and figure out Joseph's age. So Joseph would be about 39-ish or so when his father comes to Egypt.

[14:50] If you back up then, nine years, then he's about 30 when Pharaoh raises him up. We know he's left two years in prison after he interprets the dream for the cupbearer and for the baker.

[15:03] So we back up two more years and now he's 28 at the time when he's in prison and he meets with the cupbearer and the baker.

[15:13] We know he's 17 when he comes into Egypt. So you have between 17 and 28. You got these years that he's in prison and in Potiphar's house. So this is a good amount of time. It wasn't like he's just been here a couple weeks.

[15:24] I think he's growing up in this household. And verse 6, So he's able to just leave everything at home, everything at the family business with Joseph and he can go off and focus on being the captain of the guard.

[15:46] He leaves everything in his hand. Psalm 37 5 says, To commit your way unto the Lord. Leave everything in his hands. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.

[15:57] At the end of verse 6 there, it says, And Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. The word was, that's within there is that same word.

[16:08] Our word for come to pass or to become or haya. So Joseph became a goodly person and well-favored. That doesn't just mean, man, he's a good kid and what a nice guy.

[16:19] That well-favored means very handsome and goodly person means like of good countenance. So it's trying to tell us the dude was a knockout. He was like a stud, right? He was a good-looking guy.

[16:29] And I think he's gone from 17 to 18, 19, 20, 21. He's become a man. He's grown up here in this place. You know, the world emphasizes goodly well-favored people, right?

[16:45] It emphasizes that. The scripture, Jesus says, when speaking about beauty and he says, Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord is to be praised.

[16:57] Nothing wrong with being a goodly person and well-favored, but the praise the world heaps on that is wrong. Praise is not to come from the outward appearance.

[17:08] In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel is coming to anoint the next king. He sees all of David's brothers and he thinks, I got to find a man like Saul, head and shoulders against, above everybody, handsome. And the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him.

[17:25] For the Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but God, but the Lord looks on the heart. That isn't just a sometimes thing. Well, God looks on the heart because he can see it, but he also looks on the outward appearance.

[17:37] You know, it tells us that man looks on the outward appearance. God doesn't look like that. God doesn't judge favor. God doesn't judge value based on appearance.

[17:49] Overemphasizing what God emphasizes is a snare to the soul. When we overemphasize something that God has underemphasized, he's like, don't emphasize that.

[18:00] If we overemphasize that, it becomes a snare, right? And it's funny with the world. Man, they throw you off like that. I think back to like, you know, when I was younger, the teenager and the actors that were very prominent.

[18:14] And all of a sudden, you never see him in anything anymore. You're like, you know what? Or you see them come back in a movie. You're like, whoa, they're old. I'm like, you know, I haven't seen them in like five years in anything or heard about them or whatever.

[18:26] It's like, where'd they go? Well, they had that small window where the world was emphasizing something that was so fleeting, you know, so fleeting. And so here is Joseph.

[18:38] It has come to pass that this is who he is. In 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.

[18:50] Cast her eyes literally means to take hold with her eyes. So she has grabbed him with her eyes, her eyes. It's like she's noticing him like, oh, I didn't notice this before. You know, it's been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, right?

[19:03] But that's not true. That's a fun little saying. The eyes are the window to the mind. That's what leads into the mind. And the mind is the doorway to the heart. And out of the heart come the issues of life.

[19:16] Proverbs 4, 24, 23 says, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. What you let through your eyes goes into your mind. And what you allow into your mind, if you leave it in there and you not renew your mind, it eventually makes its way into your heart.

[19:30] And Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Your heart then shapes who you are. It becomes your character. It becomes part of your nature. And then all of a sudden, this is who you are. It's not something you just undo, right?

[19:41] The things that we let in our eyes, into our minds, and into our heart, they shape who we are. Proverbs 6, 25 says, speaking of the wayward woman, says, lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

[19:55] And right now, Mrs. Potiphar is not heeding this. Sin makes ugly the most beautiful of things, right? There's nothing wrong with the beauty God puts in creation, the beauty he puts in humanity.

[20:08] You know, you are all beautiful people, right? There's nothing wrong with that, but sin makes it so ugly. And sin takes something beautiful that God had designed in creation between a man and a woman, and it makes it just as ugly.

[20:22] But Joseph, in verse 8, Joseph, a man who prioritized faithfulness, he refused. And he said unto his master's wife, behold, my master does not know what is with me in the house.

[20:35] And he has committed all that he has to my hand. Joseph recognized that authority didn't mean he got to just call the shots and mend accountability, right?

[20:46] We said that authority flows to those who take responsibility. That, you know, do you see a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings. He will not stand before nobodies. God sees.

[20:57] And as we take responsibility for the thing the Lord puts in our hand, authority flows to responsibility. But authority doesn't mean I'm in charge. It means accountability. It means that I'm accountable to the person that I derive the authority from.

[21:10] All authority comes from somewhere. Nobody has authority of themselves except God. He's the only one. When Jesus was in his three-year ministry going throughout Galilee, and the centurion sent to him, he sent servants to him and said, you know, my servant lies sick at the point of death.

[21:29] And Jesus said, well, I will go to his house and heal him. And it says, while he was on his way, another servant came from the centurion's house and said, my master says not to come. He said, but to tell you that he also is a man under authority.

[21:41] And he says, to one go, and he goes, and to another come, and he comes. But simply speak the word and he will be healed. And Jesus said, I have not, he says he marveled. He says, I have not seen such faith not in all of Israel.

[21:52] What was the faith? It was recognizing that Jesus didn't derive his authority from himself. It wasn't just because, ooh, he's got some guy with power. He recognized who he was, that he derived his authority from God because he was God.

[22:06] He was the son of God. And Joseph's faithfulness recognizes the same thing. He realizes, I'm accountable, Mrs. Potiphar. And here you see he's the same person at all times.

[22:19] Here he has opportunity. He's alone. You know what? No one's gonna notice if I cheat the company. I mean, I deserve it. I earn it.

[22:30] I'm not even here because I want to be here. Right? There is none greater in the house in verse nine than I. Neither has he kept back anything from me but you because you are his wife.

[22:45] How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Is he trying to rub it in? Hey, there's nobody greater in this house than I. I don't think so at all. This is only the second time we've heard Joseph speak. Well, I mean third. But we heard him speak his dreams.

[22:56] He told the dreams. We haven't heard him again until now. As we hear the son of favor speak, what is he saying? And thinking of him as a reflection of Jesus, he affirms who he is.

[23:08] He says, hey, I know who I am and I'm affirming that. He reminds others who they are. Mrs. Potiphar, he's not kept back anything but you, his wife.

[23:19] You're his wife. Remember who you are. And he reveals sin. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? This isn't just a fun thing. This isn't just something to get fulfillment.

[23:30] This is sin. And then he stands for righteousness because that sin is against God. The secret of Joseph's favor, his faithfulness and his fortitude was because of who he knew himself to be before God.

[23:47] I think this verse proves that where at the end he says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He's saying, I stand before God. That's right. That's not even about Potiphar.

[23:58] It's not even about my reputation. The secret of his favor, his faithfulness and his fortitude in the midst of all of his troubles is because he knew who he was before his God.

[24:09] Joseph says, I am faithful with everything he's put in my hands. The one thing he's withheld from me is you and essentially Mrs. Potiphar, he's put you in my hands too and I'm not going to touch that.

[24:23] Romans 13, 14 says, But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Put you on.

[24:33] That means like putting on a coat. Right? We've got Joseph's four garments. We've seen one already. The favored son of the father receives a coat of authority and anointing and purpose and then he goes to his brethren.

[24:45] He goes to his own and his own do not receive him. And they strip the coat off and they throw him into a pit. And here he is in his second garment. Right? The garment of a slave. Of a servant.

[24:57] And it came to pass in verse 10 and that's our word there. It came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her.

[25:09] So this indicates this wasn't just like a couple days or a week. This is a constant. You know, the enemy does not take the day off. He doesn't. He doesn't take a day off. But he sure is hoping we will.

[25:21] He's hoping you will take that day off. He's not gonna. It says he accuses us night and day before the brethren accuses the brethren night and day. He's not gonna take a day off but he's hoping.

[25:33] He's hoping that he can catch us in that moment of weakness that, you know, I've been doing so good. You think of David when he was supposed to be at war and he sends out Joab and the other men and he stays back and he goes on his rooftop and he looks and here's opportunity and he unfortunately takes that opportunity.

[25:53] But for Joseph, we see it's possible. It's possible to have our ears so attuned to the things of the spirit that the siren call of sin will go unheeded. Day after day, Joseph's just like, no, don't need that.

[26:05] Not what I'm living for. James 4, verse 7, submit yourselves therefore to God. Read this, the devil and he will flee from you. First step, submit to God.

[26:17] Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. What is stronger than having God draw near to you? What is stronger than when the enemy is attacking my life that I submit to God and I draw near to him?

[26:28] Joseph submitted to God. He didn't fight against his circumstances or his situation. And so now it comes, it came to pass about this time that Joseph, he goes back into the house to do his business and there was none of the men in the house there within.

[26:43] So here we kind of have a clue of how Joseph conducted himself. It seems like he was very careful to make sure that he was not in a place of compromise. If you remember in verse 10, it says he refused even to be with her.

[26:57] And so Joseph comes back in to do his business, to do his prescribed work. We see that despite the enemy's constant attacks, how did Joseph respond? What was his response as the enemy bombards him day after day after day?

[27:10] One, he continued in his duties. He knew what he was called to do. He didn't use that as an excuse. Like, man, the enemy's attacking. I just can't. He remained faithful.

[27:22] He did not use it as an excuse to give in to sin. He did not interact with the enemy. He refused to interact with the enemy. And then he guarded his weakness.

[27:33] What was his weakness? That he wasn't going to be alone. You see, acknowledged weakness is an opportunity for God's glory. Our weaknesses give God opportunity to get glory in our weakness.

[27:44] We think, God, make me strong. Well, God doesn't want to so much make us strong as he wants us to realize that we are strong because of his strength. 2 Corinthians 12, 9, Paul has prayed about this thorn in the flesh three times, and then God responds to him and says this.

[28:00] He says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Your weakness, Paul, brings God glory. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

[28:13] It's kind of like the Lord's like, do you want my strength or do you want to be strong? It's like, well, Lord, ultimately, I think I'd rather have your strength because what was Jesus' strength?

[28:25] Man, we saw three years of him in his ministry, his strength. However, if we ignore weakness, we just pretend it's not there, it's an opportunity for failure.

[28:36] It just opens up an opportunity to fail. Proverbs 27, 12 says, A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself. He sees the weakness and he says, You know what? I'm going to guard against that.

[28:47] But the simple pass on and are punished. So if we clearly see the weakness and we do not take heed, if we ignore it, it's an opportunity for failure. And she caught him by his garment.

[28:58] So he's there, alone, and she's like, gotcha. She catches him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. And he's left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out.

[29:09] So Mrs. Potiphar had her moment there where she caught, literally to seized. She laid hold on. What does Jason, Jason, Jacob and Joseph together makes Jason.

[29:22] Too many J names. What does Joseph do when he's caught by the enemy? He's caught in the enemy's grip. Well, if you look in verse 12, you can see what he does. He left.

[29:33] It means to loose. He loosed himself from the enemy's hold. He left his garment in her hand and he fled. He escaped the enemy's trap and he got out of the enemy's presence.

[29:44] The enemy could not hold him and the enemy can't hold us either. In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, we're told that there's no temptation taken us, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.

[30:04] The enemy cannot hold us. If we submit ourselves to God, if we take that opportunity he gives, it's his strength, right? Who's faithful in that verse? God.

[30:14] But God is faithful. Joseph didn't sin because he was tempted. Joseph didn't sin because the enemy took advantage of a vulnerability. That's not sin. The enemy tries to tell us that.

[30:26] Look where you, look where you ended up. Oh, if God loved you he wouldn't have put you there. Joseph was right where God wanted him to be. He was favored by God. He was blessed by God.

[30:36] He was prospering and nobody would have thought that from the look of this. 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, that's how she talks about her husband, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us.

[30:56] Hebrew means one from beyond. He's brought in this stranger to mock us, to make sport of us. He came in unto me to lie with me and I cried with a loud voice. That word loud means large, intense, man, I screamed.

[31:10] 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. It says in the beginning there that she called the men unto her.

[31:22] So that means they heard her. Then she says, man, I screamed so loud. It was so loud. Nobody heard me. Nobody heard a scream. Like, okay, sure, we didn't hear that.

[31:36] That he left and fled because he tried to take advantage of me. How long have these guys worked with Joseph? How many years has Joseph been over these other men of the house? And as Joseph has prospered, man, they must have, their lot must have gotten better.

[31:50] It must have been the best they've ever had it. And they've seen he's never taken advantage of anyone or anything. And all of a sudden, she's like, nope, this is what happened. The enemy will use whatever he can, whatever he can get his hands on, he'll use it against us.

[32:05] Again, Joseph hasn't sinned just because the enemy got a hold of something, of Joseph's, to try and use it against him. And sin, sin mocks at reason. It just mocks reason.

[32:16] Because this is so unreasonable. All of these men should have been like, uh, no, but they're kind of stuck. I mean, if she says something against them, then Potiphar will come down, come down on them.

[32:28] You know, the other thing that's mocked in this story, marriage is being mocked. Potiphar's wife just mocks her marriage. And any intimacy outside of marriage, it makes a mockery of all involved.

[32:42] It just makes a mockery of something that God has designed to be so, um, edifying. And she laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home.

[32:53] Whose Lord? His. Doesn't say hers. She's yours too, Mrs. Potiphar. Um, Potiphar is your Lord too. And she spake unto him, unto Potiphar, according to these words, saying, and here she repeats this again, the Hebrew servant, which you've brought in unto us, came in unto me to mock me.

[33:11] And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me and fled out. You know, a lie that's often repeated is still a lie.

[33:25] No matter how many times you repeat it, it doesn't make it any more true or plausible. She continues to repeat this story. And you can just picture Potiphar going to the other servants. Did you guys hear anything? Uh, uh, I plead the fifth.

[33:37] You know? Did you hear her scream? No. Did you see anything? No. Nothing. But in this moment where Joseph decides on the side of faithfulness, on the side of righteousness, he loses more than his garment.

[33:50] Through this, through Joseph's choice, which we see from Scripture, Joseph doesn't necessarily know this, but we know Scripture is telling us, Joseph's God's favor is on you and God is prospering you even in this moment. Joseph has lost his position, he's lost respect, and he's going to lose his freedom over this.

[34:06] The enemy doesn't play fair. He doesn't play nice. If he can't take us down with compromise, then he'll do it any way he can.

[34:19] But he maintained his faithfulness, didn't he? 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.

[34:33] Literally means he was burned up. Potiphar was hot. He was burning up. Notice it doesn't say who he's burning up at. It just says he was hot. See, this false accusation, false accusations project sin, project sin onto someone.

[34:49] And usually, you'll find that the sin being projected is the sin that's in the person's life doing the accusing. Because that's what they're familiar with. That's the way that their mind works, the way their heart is, so they assume, well, I'm sure yours is there too.

[35:02] And so they project sin, their sin usually, onto someone else. And we see that here with Mrs. Potiphar. The only one who had this story, the only one who was able to rehearse this story as it was, was Potiphar's wife.

[35:18] And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, in a place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison. That word was at the end, he was there, there's a phrase in there, that's haya, and he became in prison.

[35:34] And now Joseph goes to prison. God, I thought you were with me. I thought in verse 2, it said the Lord Jehovah was with Joseph and he was prosperous. God, what happened?

[35:46] I did everything I was supposed to. I was faithful, I was accountable, I said no to sin and temptation, and now look, it's almost like Joseph is bearing the son of favor, like he's bearing someone's sin, someone else's sin.

[36:01] But this prison, it says it was the king's prisoner. So this was a political prison. Joseph becomes this political prisoner and I think it kind of speaks to the fact that Potiphar knew he was falsely accused, that he didn't kill him.

[36:14] I mean, if some servant makes an advance on your wife, you know, it's over. So I think this kind of speaks to the fact that Potiphar knew. He didn't throw him into a common prison, he's in the king's prison.

[36:25] But he was kind of stuck. 1 Peter 3.14 says, but if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are you and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.

[36:35] Great verse to talk about. Not so fun to live, right? If you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. Be not afraid of their terror, neither troubled.

[36:48] Why? Because suffering for righteousness' sake has eternal value. every decision Joseph made for faithfulness has led him further and further into personal trouble.

[37:01] I think if he knew this verse, he'd be rehearsing it to him right now. But it'd be many, many years later when Paul writes this in Galatians 6.9, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

[37:13] And that goes back to that psalm where it says the iron entered into his soul, that Joseph is in a time right now, Joseph, it's not time to reap. Right now is a time of sowing and of growing, but it's not time yet to reap.

[37:25] And here we see Joseph being punished for the sin of another. Does he say anything? Do we hear him speak up? No, he goes silently as a lamb to the slaughter. He bears the sin of another.

[37:37] Another scripture from 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 18. For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. It wasn't his sin. That he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit.

[37:53] Right? The eternal thing had value. The temporary thing, God was able to use that to bring value to the spirit. By which also he went, this interesting verse, and preached unto the spirits in prison.

[38:06] Where is Joseph going? Where is he going? The just for the unjust. Joseph took upon himself the sin of a Gentile bride. Potiphar's wife was a Gentile bride.

[38:17] He took upon himself the son of favor, the sin of a Gentile bride and went down into prison. Joseph, a son of Israel, when he went to the sons of Israel, he went to his own, he went to his brothers and they rejected him and they put him to death.

[38:35] And his garment, the garment of favor and authority was ripped off. Now, this garment of servitude, this garment of being a well-favored servant is taken off in exchange for prison clothes.

[38:48] There's four gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew emphasizes Jesus being the Messiah of Israel, being the deliverer of Israel, being the chosen of Israel.

[39:03] Mark emphasizes Jesus as a servant, as a suffering servant, one who serves. Luke emphasizes Jesus as the son of man, the one who comes to anybody, whether they're in prison or not, that Jesus here is for them.

[39:16] And then John, John will emphasize that Jesus is the exalted son of God, that he is deity. You see that picture through Joseph now. Right now, he's a prisoner, but man, he is there.

[39:29] Doesn't matter if they're a prisoner, a king, or who, he's there for them. And eventually, he's going to be raised up with his fourth garment. But that's a little ways out. But the Lord was with Joseph.

[39:43] I like this. And showed him mercy. So all this time, we know God's been with him. In verse two, the Lord was with him and he was prosperous. The Lord made everything to prosper in his hand. But now as he's put into prison, we have this other phrase in here.

[39:53] He showed him mercy. He showed him kindness. He was with Joseph. He says, Joseph, I've got you. It's okay. And the Lord became for Joseph mercy, what he needed at this point.

[40:06] The word there, showed, where it says he showed him mercy, it means to bend or to bow forward. It's almost like the Lord, it's like with a little kid, right? They skin their knee and the Lord bends down. He kneels down. He comes down to their level and he says, I'm there for you.

[40:19] I'm going to show you kindness. And he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. You know that word gave mean? It means to put on. God put on favor on Joseph. All of these different garments put on him by the world, by his family, ripped off, put on, ripped off, put on.

[40:35] And Joseph is the same man through it all because God has put his favor upon him. God's favor overrides the enemy's best efforts, right? The enemy thought, Satan thought, ha ha, no deliverer for God's people.

[40:49] I got him. He's in prison now. And here, the thoughts and plans that God had for Joseph, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give him a future and a hope, they overrode all the best efforts of the enemy.

[41:02] We have the same promise and the same hope, right? Why? Because the son of favor has taken us into our hands. He's given us faithful promises. He says, you know what? Man, no sin, no darkness, no enemy, no attack can override God's favor and God's grace.

[41:19] 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. Or literally, he became, that's our word again, he became the doer.

[41:30] You think, man, God is so good. Well, it's also costing Joseph a lot of work. This guy's got to work. He's got to work hard. He's like, oh, now I'm in prison.

[41:40] Oh, guess what? Here you go, Joseph. The whole administration of the prison is now on you, buddy. Everything's on him. So where God's favor was on him and Joseph was prospering and he was a faithful man, there was a part he had to play.

[41:53] He had to be faithful to do the work that God gave him to do. Colossians 3, 23, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily. As to the Lord, not unto men.

[42:04] That's one of those instances where you just can't replace that word. King James nails it. King James, do it heartily. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ.

[42:15] Joseph served the Lord Christ. And here we see that the care of all the prisoners was placed into whose hands? The son of favor. Right?

[42:25] The son of favor cared for all the prisoners. In Luke 4, 18, as Jesus stands up in the synagogue and the scroll has given him to read for that day and it's in Isaiah, he reads, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

[42:38] He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised. All of the prisoners and the care for all prisoners are in the hands of the son of favor.

[42:51] And the keeper of the prison, he 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. And hear that word prosper?

[43:02] We're going to use the definition to finish forward. That Joseph, the Lord made everything Joseph did. It was moving him forward. What appeared like a step backwards was actually a step forwards on the path of deliverance.

[43:16] Joseph thought, man, this is, this is not good. And God's like, no, Joseph, you don't understand. This is another step to bring you and your family to the point of deliverance. This is a setup, a good setup. And what appears like a step backwards or like a tragic event may be the most beautiful thing we will ever experience.

[43:35] In Mark 16, the ladies that follow Jesus, they're going to the tomb. Jesus has been crucified. The biggest step backwards in the history of the world. They think it's over. The Messiah, the one we put our hope and our trust in.

[43:47] And they come to the tomb very early in the morning, the first day of the week. And they came into the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. They said among themselves, who shall roll us away from the stone from the door of the sepulcher?

[43:59] And when they looked, they saw the stone was rolled away for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side and clothed with a long white garment.

[44:11] And they were affrighted. And he said unto them, be not affrighted. You seek Jesus of Nazareth. It was tragic. It was terrible. He was crucified. But that wasn't the end.

[44:22] God made him to prosper. He finished forward. He is risen. He is not here. And for us, we have the same promise to always finish forward. We will always finish forward.

[44:34] There's no failing in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2.14, now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. If you remove those last two words, none of the rest of that applies.

[44:47] Are you in Christ? If you're not in Christ, if you're not under the favor of the favored son, man, then you don't have that hope. But in Christ, we have such a hope that God will finish us forward.

[45:02] Remember who's the faithful one? He is. It's his faithfulness to Joseph. We can be confident of this very thing, that he, which has begun a good work in us, he will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

[45:16] Joseph wasn't doing it. Joseph's part was to be faithful to what God put in his hands. Whether it was at home, at his father's house, whether it was as Potiphar's, you know, president of operations, or whether it was junior warden of the prison, his part was just to be faithful to what God put in his hands.

[45:38] God was the one who's faithful to bring Joseph along. Everything that God meant for evil, I mean, that enemy meant for evil, God's going to use for good. And one day Joseph's going to say that. He's going to turn to his brothers and he's going to say, guys, everything that the enemy meant for evil, God has used for good.

[45:53] And we have the same promise and even greater in a sense because we have the son of favor with us, in us, and his favor is upon us. So Lord, as we close and as we pray, Lord, we are more than in awe, Lord, at the favor that you've put upon our lives.

[46:12] when we have not been faithful, when like Potiphar's wife, Lord, the bitter, rejected, Gentile bride, full of sin, that you would take upon yourself our sin when you had no sin.

[46:31] That you would go quietly like a lamb to the slaughter. You would go to the most tragic event in eternity, in history, ever. How is it possible that God could die?

[46:45] But then that you would go willingly and you would die for me so that I can then come under the favor of the son of favor. I don't have to come with my own righteousness because it's his righteousness.

[46:56] I don't have to come and try and convince God to show me mercy because it's his mercy. The same love and favor and care that the father has towards the son is the same love and favor and care that he has for all of those who would put their trust in him.

[47:11] We thank you, Father, for giving your only begotten son, sending him into the world that whosoever should believe in him should not perish. And maybe, Lord, this morning we're like Joseph where it is so hard to see your favor, so hard to see the prosperity, not prosperity like this world thinks, but prosperity that's eternal.

[47:36] It's so hard to see that there's going to be any fruit of anything good coming from this stage in our life. Remind us, Lord, that you never remove your favor from your chosen ones.

[47:49] And remind us, Lord, that like Joseph, if we prioritize faithfulness, you will take care of everything else. We don't have to fight against our circumstances. We don't have to run away from them.

[48:00] We don't have to protest. We don't have to quit. We can just do the next thing that was given us. We can just go about our business trusting you, Lord, that you've got the whole thing already planned out.

[48:11] So hard in the moment to see. But if we could see our lives written out, wouldn't they look just like Joseph's? Oh, there's that time I was falsely accused. Oh, that's that time they threw me under the bus. There's when I had a really good job that I didn't really like.

[48:23] And oh, there's when I had a job I hated. Oh, and there's when God really blessed me. And we're going to see that, oh, there's when God gave Joseph a wife and children and position. Thank you, Lord. Whether we experience the time of reaping the blessing here or whether we experience it in eternity with you.

[48:42] Thank you for your favor, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.