Today it's page 33 in a provided Bible if you'd like to use one of those I'm going to read for us All 23 verses This morning and would ask that if you're able, would you please stand as I read for us? from God's Word Genesis chapter 39 beginning at verse 1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge. And because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time, his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you're his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them, see, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house. Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. And she told him the same story saying, the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us came into me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, this is the way your servant treated me, his anger was kindled, and Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Oh, God, we come to your word, grateful that though the grass withers and the flowers fade, your word endures forever. And we pray that your word would accomplish the purposes for which you have sent it this morning, that it would bear fruit, that it would produce faith, that it would encourage us toward faithfulness. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please have a seat. I know I've mentioned on more than one occasion that one of my heroes, so to speak, from history is Eric Little or Eric Liddell. I've always pronounced it Eric Little. I was introduced to Eric Little through the film Chariots of Fire, which came out, I think, in 81. I was probably 18 years old and I'd gone to the theater to see it with a good friend of mine. and was just enthralled with the movie, enthralled with his character. You know, Eric Little was a Scottish runner, a son of Presbyterian missionaries to China who won Olympic gold in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. He won gold in the 400-meter dash, but part of his story that's told in the film and for which he became quite famous is that he refused to run in a qualifying heat for the 100-meter dash, which was arguably his best event. He refused to run in that qualifying heat because it was going to be held on the Lord's Day on a Sunday. And so instead he ran the 400. He wasn't expected to win, and of course he did. He won the gold medal. And Little went on from there to give up the fame and fortune that he would have undoubtedly had in Scotland, his native country, and he went back to China where he was actually born to his missionary parents. And he served there in missions, and then World War II came about. He sent his wife and daughters, I believe, to Canada. He remained in China. The Japanese occupied that part of China where he was living, and he ended up dying of a brain tumor in a Japanese internment camp. Eric Little is just an inspiring figure. Maybe part of it was, you know, at the time I saw it, I just graduated high school and I'd run track too, you know, so I was excited about that. And here was a movie about a Presbyterian too, that got me all fired up. But he's just a great godly man who accomplished great things and he did amazing things. And so, when you have heroes like an Eric Little, and you've got yours too, I mean, they can be inspiring and encouraging figures, but at the same time, if we're not careful, they can discourage us too. Now, what do I mean by that? Because you look at an Eric Little, and you look how he went back to China and gave up the fame and fortune, and how he stayed behind to minister to people and end up in that Japanese internment camp. You think, could I do that? I mean, it's almost like an Eric Little just intimidates us, perhaps. This guy is just, he's not human. And I could name others, but I'm using Eric Little for the sake of illustration. We ask those questions. We think, could I do that? And here we read about Joseph. in Genesis 39. And Joseph, as I mentioned last week, is one of those characters in the Bible about whom we're never really told of a character flaw. He and Joshua kind of fit that pattern. Now, we know that Joseph needed God's grace and mercy. No perfect person has ever existed outside the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. But there's really no character flaws described of Joseph in the scriptures. And we certainly get that as we read Genesis 39. You recall that Joseph is in this place where the story begins as a servant or slave in the house of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, is because his jealous brothers, and he had a dozen, sold him into slavery. They sold him as a slave and he's carried into Egypt. And there he's made this servant. He's made to live as a slave in the house of Potiphar. But what we see about Joseph, one of the things that jumps out at us as we read Genesis 39 is this phrase, the Lord was with him. The Lord was with Joseph. That's repeated four times. It's repeated twice early in the chapter and twice later in the chapter. And of course, this means more than just God's with him as in the fact that God's everywhere, right? I mean, we, we would say that we, we believe God's everywhere. We believe what Psalm 139 teaches where David, the Psalmist says, where can I flee from your presence? And if I go to the grave, you're there. No matter where I go, you're there. That's God's omnipresence. And this is more than that, isn't it? This is the Lord is with. Joseph and and as you look in verses 2 and 3 as well as 21 and 23 those verses It's the Lord spelled in all capital letters And you know that whenever you read the name of God Lord spelled that way in the Old Testament It's it's giving us a clue that this is the name of God That he that God revealed himself to Moses in that burning bush. I we would pronounce it Yahweh or Yahweh in the Hebrew. The old King James said Jehovah. And that's a specific name of God that communicates his covenant faithfulness. In fact, God defined his own name in this way to Moses in Exodus 34, the Lord passed before him before Moses and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Hebrew words hesed, right? Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. This is the God who's with Joseph in a particular way and blesses Joseph and sustains him in trial and in temptation. I mean, this is indeed a time of trial. for Joseph, this time where he's been carried into Egypt. Listen to how the psalmist, how he describes Joseph in Psalm 105, when he, the Lord, summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread. He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters. His neck was put in a collar of iron until what he had said come to pass. The word of the Lord tested him. So as we look at Joseph's test of faith, and we're getting that here in Genesis 39, we can't miss his faithfulness. His faithfulness. And so the question I think we should ask is, and probably would ask, could I do that? Could I respond to these circumstances the way Joseph did? And what I want us to see this morning is, yes, when God is with us. God was with Joseph and God can be with us to enable perseverance, to enable endurance. I want us to see that God gives sustaining, persevering grace in times of blessing, in times of temptation, and in times of trial. God gives sustaining, persevering grace in times of blessing, in times of temptation, and in times of trial. Let's see that in the life of Joseph, how God gave this sustaining grace to him in times of blessing. Now, I think we see that in verses one through six. Now, it's qualified blessing, all right? I mean, Joseph is a servant. He's a slave in the house of Potiphar. That's not the ideal life, but nonetheless, it's not the life of a typical servant by any stretch. God blesses him. We read about that in these verses. how he's been brought down to Egypt. He's sold to Potiphar, this officer of Pharaoh, a high-ranking Egyptian official, and he's serving as a servant in that house. A remarkable life he lives as a servant. Look with me again at verses two and three. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. Joseph lived a life of blessing here. He was a successful man. In fact, what's so encouraging about these verses is the Egyptian officer Potiphar sees it and he knows it's because of God's blessing. It's Yahweh's blessing. It says that in verse three. God's blessing led to Joseph's life of prosperity. That's what he's living here with in the household of Potiphar. We look in verses four through six. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him an overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. Verse six, so he left all that he had in Joseph's charge. And because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. I mean, Josephine uses this language later in the passage. It's like he's Potiphar. That's an unusual life for a servant. God blessed him, but yet Joseph, and this really comes out later, we know Joseph was faithful to God in times of blessing. That's harder than you think. Joseph was faithful. in times of blessing and prosperity, in the good times, and that's harder than you think. Because it's in times of blessing, when life is good, that's when spiritual apathy tends to grow. That's when complacency tends to set in for us. Because what happens? What happens when life is good, and we don't have many concerns, God is blessing, pride and self-sufficiency start to creep in to our hearts and to our lives. I heard this quote a long time ago. I've repeated it several times. The self-made man tends to worship his creator. The self-made man tends to worship his creator. In times of blessing, we begin to think of ourselves as self-made people. And the tendency then is to worship or to value and prize ourselves. It's pride. You know what pride is? Pride is spiritual arsenic. Pride is spiritual poison. What did Jesus say in the Gospel of Matthew? about the danger of prosperity. He said this, truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, well, who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are impossible. Jesus is not saying that wealth is inherently a problem. that wealth and prosperity are an impediment or a barrier to life with God, to a right relationship with him. That's not what he's saying. He's saying it's hard. It makes it difficult. Because times of prosperity, times of comfort, times of ease, they just tend to pull us away. They tend to, again, give us apathy and we tend to get complacent about the means of grace, about time in God's Word and prayer or fellowship or worship. Our lives get more distracted. So what do we do? Do we become hermits? Do we become monks? I mean, that's what generations past did. That's what they saw. That's what you do. You take a vow of poverty. Is that what we're called to do? No. The Bible never says, it never gives us that easy way out. That's really an easy way out. I'm not gonna worry about, I'll just take a vow of poverty and I don't have to deal with my heart at all. I'll just convince myself that I don't have a problem with wealth anymore. No, I think what we need to do instead, let me give you three quick thoughts. First, we need to cultivate gratitude. At all times, cultivate gratitude. Remember this passage of scripture, 1 Timothy 4, for everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with thanksgiving for it's made holy by the word of God and prayer. So we let the good things, the blessings of life, make us more God-centered. We cultivate that attitude of gratitude. Another thing we ought to do is we ought to realize that everything that we have, every gift, every ability, any position in life, any resources we have, they're all from the Lord. They're all from His hand. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4, for who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If you then received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? There's no such thing as a self-made person. Any gifts or abilities, intellectual prowess that you have, it's all from God. And we ought to recognize that. And so we realize all that's from the Lord. Another thing to help us to be faithful even in times of blessing is to ask the Lord To give us grace to see the potential landmines of prosperity. To see the potential landmines of prosperity. Paul writes again in 1 Timothy, for if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money, not money itself, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Believe it or not, times of blessing, times of prosperity can be great challenges to our own faithfulness because usually that's the road to apathy and complacency. But that wasn't true of Joseph by God's grace. By God's grace, it had to be true of us. God's sustaining grace can be with us even in times of blessing, but not only in times of blessing, but also in times of temptation. Times of temptation. Now, what we're coming to now may be one of the more famous stories in the Old Testament. Certainly, when we think about Joseph, a lot of us would think about this event that occurred. Just to summarize, what we read in verses 7 through 20 is the wife of Potiphar is attracted to Joseph, and she repeatedly seeks to entice him to the sin of adultery. And look, let's just be fair. You'll notice I skipped over a chapter in Genesis. Quite frankly, there's a level of sexual sin there I just didn't want to preach on. I just felt like maybe I'll save that for a parent to deal with kids at home. And my point in saying that is sexual sin Happens in the lives of men and women. This is this story is not meant to target women Men struggle with this just as much but in this story, it's the wife of Potiphar seeking to entice Joseph and she offers to him this persistent Temptation it comes out in verse 10. She spoke to Joseph day after day and he would not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her and But I want you to notice with me, just to back up, Joseph's response to her in verses eight and nine, but he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house. He's put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself because you're his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? I got to read this quote to you. It's from Dr. Ligon Duncan when he preached on this passage as he talked about verses eight and nine about Joseph's response. Dr. Duncan said this, and Joseph's response is classic in verses eight and nine. He uses two arguments here that other people would probably use for an excuse to go ahead and engage in the affair. I want you to look at the arguments. First, in verse eight, he argues, look, my master trusts me so much that he doesn't supervise me. And in fact, he's promoted me over the whole household. He's given me rapid promotion and he doesn't watch after me. There have been a lot of people who would say, well, nobody's looking. The master's not here. He trusts me so much. He's not in the house. That gives us the perfect opportunity. That's not Joseph's argumentation. It's the exact opposite. His freedom from supervision and promotion is his argument against doing this thing. Secondly, look at verse nine. He goes on to say, there's only one thing that my master hasn't withheld from me. He realizes there is only one area that his master has held back from him, and that is his wife. Now pause for a minute and think about Genesis three. When Satan pointed out to Adam and Eve, there's only one area that he's held back from you. Isn't that unreasonable? Their immediate response was to want the one thing that God had not given them. But Joseph, when he reflects on the fact that there's only one thing that his master has not given him, he uses that as an argument against seeking after that thing. I thought that was rather insightful. But Joseph's most powerful argument really comes in the second half of verse 9, right? How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Ultimately, Joseph knows that this would be a sin against the Lord. He knows that what God labels as sin is never okay. And Joseph values the honor, the fame, the glory of God above all else. Let me just tell you, sometimes our own fight against sin, that's all we've got left, and it's the most compelling argument. If we're in a joyless marriage, And we choose to be faithful because that's what honors God, that's enough. If we're facing a situation at work in which taking an unethical path will get us ahead and nobody may know, but we choose not to do it because we know that honors the Lord, that's enough. And as Christians, as God's people, and we're facing increasing cultural pressures To deny what God's word teaches on a host of issues related to marriage or sexuality or life. And the only reason we have, it seems is because we know this is what honors God. That's enough. This argument of Joseph reminds me of a classic quote by John Owen, a quote I've brought up every time I've taught the intro to HLPC class. And it goes like this, the Puritan pastor John Owens said, he that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God. He that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God. Do you see the connection here? Joseph had such a great view of his God, he said, there's no way I could do this. I'll sin against him." Great thoughts of God can strengthen us against sin and temptation. Further, giving in to sin and temptation is one way of trivializing the gospel, isn't it? Because we remember that our sins have been dealt with, not that God sort of chooses to ignore sin or have this attitude like, well, you know, boys will be boys, kids are kids. No. God's attitude towards sin is He's reviled by it. His just punishment for sin is known as His wrath. But then this God who's infinitely holy in His mercy and grace and love and kindness sends His Son to die in the place of sinners, to bear the punishment for sin. That's what sin costs. And that should be a motivation to fight against sin and temptation for us, because if we don't take sin seriously, we don't take the work of Jesus seriously. So where does all this take Joseph? Well, verses 11 and 12, he goes into the house to do his work and the men of the house were there. She, Potiphar's wife, caught him by his garment saying, lie with me, but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. He ran. I love what Derek Kidner in his commentary says, Joseph's flight, unlike a coward's, saved his honor at the cost of his prospects. And there's a reference to 1 Timothy 2 too, so flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. These are the arguments. Now, how could I... look at God's grace to us in the face of temptation without going to the most classic work outside the Bible on temptation, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I commend to you that book. You know, Lewis got the idea for the book because he was sitting in a church service listening to a boring sermon. So I've often wondered, I wonder how many books I've inspired. So Lewis got the idea, and the Screwtape Letters, most of you know, but let's say everybody's on the same page. It's this fictional account of a senior demon named Screwtape writing letters of advice to a nephew named Wormwood on how to deal with Wormwood's patient, how to deal with a human. And when you read the Screwtape Letters, you've gotta train your way of thinking because Screwtape's a demon, so if he refers to the enemy, he's talking about God. So let me read you this quote. from Screwtape, writing to Wormwood, talking about the enemies, talking about God, and Screwtape says, he, God, is a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade, are only like foam on the seashore. Out at sea, out in his sea, there is pleasure and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it. At his right hand are, quote, pleasures forevermore. He's vulgar, Wormwood. He has a bourgeois mind. He has filled his world full of pleasures. Everything has to be twisted before it's any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages. Nothing is naturally on our side. And I read you that quote because I think Lewis is reminding us this call to holiness, this call to flee sin and temptation, this call to faithfulness is not because we're living before the cosmic killjoy, no, we're living before a God who created this world, who indeed, according to Psalm 16, verse 11, at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. It's the way, the path of joy, the way of a Godward life is the way of a joy-filled life, a truly pleasure-filled life. That's what he's offering to us. And I think Joseph knew that. And God sustained him by his grace in times of blessing and prosperity. He sustained him in this time of temptation, but he also sustained him in a time of trial, which I know really is the whole chapter, but I believe what happens in verses 21 through 23, the trial becomes more intense because of course what happens, Joseph refuses the advances of Potiphar's wife. And so what does she do? She lies about him. She frames him. She basically tells her husband, look, he attempted inappropriate actions to put it euphemistically. And Joseph in fleeing leaves his garment behind. And so she uses that garment, that cloak to frame Joseph. But I think Potiphar's reaction in verses 19 and 20 is interesting, because what does Potiphar do? You would think in that day and time, considering that Joseph was a servant in the house, considering what Joseph had been accused of, you'd think Potiphar would have pulled out a sword and just run Joseph through on the spot. But he doesn't. He's angry, we're told, but he has Joseph thrown into this royal prison of sorts. Some have speculated that perhaps this means that Joseph's character had been so strong that Potiphar maybe had a little bit of doubt about his wife's story. We don't know. I think it's interesting. But so Joseph is put into this prison. I think this is where the fetters and the shackles we read about in Psalm 105 come into play. But he's put into Pharaoh's prison. But yet again, we read, verse 21, the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. In fact, in verse 21, we read, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love. There's that hesed again, that covenant, faithful, tender mercies of God were with Joseph. Even during Joseph's trial, he'd been framed, thrown into prison. God's still with Joseph. His love for Joseph never quits. God sustained him in this time of trial. And let's not forget, this is God's providential ordering of Joseph's life. None of this is a surprise. This is all in fulfillment of what God told Abraham back in Genesis 15. My people are gonna be in a land, a sojourner land, not their own. They'll be there for 400 years. God is prophesying that his people will end up in Egypt. This is a story of how that happened. This is not a surprise. And this tells us that Joseph's trial, like any and all of our trials, are never a surprise to God. Another one of the heroes I have of sorts is John Newton. I reference him and his hymns all the time. I mean, a lot of us know about Newton's life. He lived life in rebellion against God. He participated in the slave trade. God radically saved him. so that Newton eventually becomes a pastor, and then he fights against the slave trade in England. He was a great influence on William Wilberforce. But Newton, life was a hard life. He knew trial. He knew suffering. He faced illness. He faced the death of his wife. He and his wife couldn't have children, so they adopted two young women, two daughters, one of whom died. He knew a lot of pain and suffering. And one of the books on Newton that I've enjoyed reading is written by the author Tony Reinke, the book's entitled, Newton on the Christian Life. And the author quotes Newton here when he writes, this is the words of John Newton, all shall work together for good. Everything is needful that he sins. Nothing can be needful that he withholds. Then Reinke, the author, writes, all the sending and withholding in our lives is managed by God for our ultimate flourishing, but do we believe it? And then he quotes Newton again, how happy are they who can resign all to Him, all to Christ, and see His hand in every dispensation, every situation, and believe that He chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves. Newton also said this, when you cannot see your way, be satisfied that Christ is your leader. When your spirit is overwhelmed within you, He knows your path. He will not leave you to sink. Interesting way to put it about a man who had captained ocean vessels. We can persevere by God's grace, even when under trial like Joseph, when we trust the God who ordains all things for our good and for his glory. Joseph flourished even in prison. Why? The Lord was with him. Yahweh was with him. And he never withheld his amazing, steadfast, committed covenant love. And he promises, I believe, to do the same for us, his people. I mean, Joseph, he's a hero of the Bible, and his life can inspire, but it can also intimidate. Yet Joseph needed the grace and mercy of God, just as we do. And we may see some interesting parallels between Joseph and Jesus, and I enjoy pointing those out, but let's not forget Joseph needed God's grace. Joseph was a sinner too, and God sustained Joseph by his grace. In times of blessing, When apathy and complacency can creep in, in times of temptation, when we're struggling to be faithful, in times of trial, when we're wondering, does God even know or care? What I want us to do this morning is to go together to the Lord's table so that we can be refreshed in this covenant-making, covenant-keeping God who pours out such steadfast love and mercy on us, no matter what our circumstances. Would you pray with me now? Father, we thank You for this, Your grace and mercy, and thank You for this, the Lord's table. Lord, we pray that we would be indeed encouraged that You would sustain us by Your grace, and that this table would be for us a means of grace, a means to be refreshed in the good news of the gospel, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, amen.