I invite you to turn in scripture to Genesis chapter 39 this evening. Genesis chapter 39. You'll find that on page 41 of your Pew Bible if you're using the Pew Bible. Genesis chapter 39. Two weeks ago we left Joseph on a camel. And then over the last week we spent really 20 years of Judah's life looking forward as to those events in. Genesis Chapter 38, so now we're going to go back and pick up that life and story of Joshua and his arrival in Egypt. This evening will be looking at the entire chapter, but at this point I'll just read the first 20 verses of Genesis Chapter 39. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 at 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 and formed. in appearance. But 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 are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And 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 were 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 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 me 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. And 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 the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. Let's fire the reading of God's word. Let's pray. Give him thanks for it and ask him to bless its reading and preaching. Lord God, we thank you indeed for your word, the way in which you have spoken to us, the way you have recorded faithfully the history of your people. that we may see and know your faithfulness to the generations and raising up those whom you had called to positions where they might serve you and bring salvation to your people. Ultimately, Lord, and your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, in whom we pray. Amen. Well, in the 1930s and 40s and 50s, there was a well-known cartoonist. You've probably heard of him, named Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg was known for writing or drawing these illustrations of a very convoluted system of steps to perform a very simple task. He'd use all sorts of things, birds and rails with wheels on tracks and pinwheels and all these things. You know, for instance, 30 steps to butter a piece of toast. One of his cartoons, a personal favorite of mine from the 1940s, began with a mill worker, a war worker in the middle of World War II, sawing off a piece of iron pipe. And as he sawed off the pipe in his cartoon, it fell into a basket. And the weight of the pipe in the basket was sitting on a seesaw. And so that would, of course, cause the other end of the seesaw to rise up as the heavy side went down. And on the other side of the seesaw was a lit candle. So as that happened, the lit candle would slide down the seesaw, and it would land under the foot of a watchman. A watchman would be surprised by this, perhaps awoken. So he'd raise his foot suddenly. And sitting right in front of his foot in this cartoon was a stuffed duck. So he'd kick the stuffed duck. The duck would go flying through the air. It would land on a stairway. A bird dog would see the duck and say, hey, a bird, and come running down the stairs to get the duck. Tied to the dog's tail was a string. On the other end of that string, it was attached to a cannon. And the string would pull out the fuse and light the cannon. And the cannon would blow off Adolf Hitler's head. all because of a man sawing off an iron pipe. And you're wondering, what does that have to do with Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the house of Potiphar? Well, as you think about it, We often think life is sort of like a Rube Goldberg device. We have our goals. We have it in front of us. We think, as long as I follow this particular series of steps, I'll get to my destination. I'll get what I want. Life will go well. Everything will be hunky dory. But if I make one mistake, if I get off track in just one way, I'll lose my path. I'll lose the Lord's blessing. I'll lose his care for my life. And perhaps we actually want life to work this way. Perhaps we want life to be very simple. You put in certain inputs, you receive back certain outputs. Very simple. You have your plan, you have your destination, you have your goal for your life. As long as you do your part to carry it out, life will go well, Hitler will be assassinated, World War II averted. There you go. But as we read texts like Genesis 39, we realize that Life ultimately does not work that way, does it? If Joseph had set a plan for himself and for his life, it would have looked nothing like this. And yet, we can praise the Lord that that is the case. We can praise the Lord that he confounds our plans. He confounds our worldly wisdom, our expectations. The way in which we think we can arrange ABCXYZ to get what we want. He says I have a better way. I have a better plan. And as we see that carried out, we can. We can be like the psalmist in Psalm 118. Who looks at what the Lord has done. He says this is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous at our eyes. So as we look at this narrative text here in Genesis 39, we'll see it break up really into three different scenes. Three different scenes. We begin in verses 1 to 6. We see Joseph is given it all. Joseph is given it all, verses 1 to 6. Secondly, we'll see Potiphar's wife risking it all, you could say, in verses 6 to 19. And then finally, verses 20 to 23, Joseph seems to lose it all. We see Joseph gaining it all, we see Potiphar's wife risking it all, or perhaps you could say offering it all to him, and then thirdly, Joseph losing it all. We begin in verse 1 as we see Joseph rising to this great position of prominence to the household of Potiphar. We see Potiphar here in verse 1, that's He remarked that he is an Egyptian. His name is an honorific for the Egyptian god Ra. He's captain of the guard, which would be a high position. Think of all the threats that a king in the most powerful and wealthy kingdom on earth would have. How important it would be to have a man whom he could trust to captain his guard. You could compare it to maybe the chief of secret service or something like that. This was Potiphar's job. Joseph would have been one of many slaves. Potiphar was probably regularly buying and selling slaves from the slave traders. Of course, when you hire a newer hire, you buy a new slave, he'd be at the bottom of the totem pole, as it were. One ancient papyrus lists a household of similar stature having maybe 80 slaves. So you can imagine Joseph coming in, a nobody from nowhere at the bottom of the pole, slave number 80. But he doesn't stay there, does he? And surely, as we read these verses, you heard why he advanced in the household of Potiphar. Beginning in verse 2, the text makes it clear what? The Lord was with Joseph. Verse 3, Potiphar saw the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. Again, in verse 5, the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house. Again, in verse 5, the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had. five times in five verses. Scripture makes it clear that the Lord was responsible for the success that Joseph had in the household of Potiphar. Now, if you were with us two weeks ago in Genesis chapter 37, We remark that the Lord was clearly the provident hand behind Joseph being sold in slavery to start with. You recall how Joseph was 50 miles from home. He just happened upon a man who had just happened to overhear the brothers talking about where they were going. And 12 miles later, he happened to find them, and the brothers happened to throw him into a pit, and his other brother happened to save him, and the slave caravan happened to go at just the right time. And we recognize this wasn't things just happening. This was the Lord. But the same Lord who was over, perhaps you could say, the darkest era of Joseph's life up to that point, is the same Lord who is now blessing him, isn't it? Often in life when things go well, we want to take the blame. When things go poorly, sure, we're glad to blame the Lord. Or perhaps your personality is the opposite. When things are going poorly, you say, what have I done wrong? How have I messed up? What have I done to my life? Things go well, we give credit to the Lord. But Joseph's life makes clear that ultimately, it is the same Lord in times of feast, times of famine, as we'll see later in the same life. We see, of course, the extent, though, here in chapter 39 of the blessing the Lord has placed on Joseph's life. Text tells us that everything in Potiphar's household was under the care and the charge of Joseph. So much so that Potiphar even recognizes that the Lord is with him. I wonder what that means. Does Potiphar just see, hey, this guy seems to be doing well? And the scripture describes that as Potiphar saying the Lord was blessing him. Or did Joseph actually speak to Potiphar of his God? Did Potiphar actually know that it was the Lord blessing Joseph because he had heard the name of Yahweh spoken by Joseph? We don't know. But one way or the other, we see that Potiphar recognizes the hand of the Lord on Joseph in his life. Verse four, when Potiphar places him in charge of his entire household, this is like an official Hebrew word for almost like installation. He's installed over the entire household field and home. He's gone from slave number 80, if you will, to slave number one in the household of Potiphar. God blesses him immensely. Now, a moment ago, when I said it's the same Lord who both blesses and gives us trials and travails, perhaps you thought, well, if that's the case, what am I? Am I just a robot? If the Lord is ultimately in charge of all that I do, what role do I have to play? But we see here that Joseph still works. Joseph didn't say, the Lord has brought me this far, therefore I'm just going to take it easy. No, he recognizes the Lord's hand in his life, and that seems to actually motivate him. and to empower him, and to impel him to serve and to work hard. And so he does. He's given a complete charge over Potiphar's household. The only thing Potiphar has to worry about is what's for dinner. Notice that there in verse 6. The only thing he had concern about was the food that he ate. And just when Joseph seems to have gotten to a wonderful place, perhaps you can, you know, tie a bow on his story now. He's gone from the pit now to the highest point in the household of one of the most important and powerful and influential men in all of Egypt. Just when he thinks he's gotten it all, in steps Potiphar's wife. Verse 6b, if you will. tells us that Joseph was handsome in appearance. Now we know that his mother caught his father's eye immediately, so much so that his father was willing to work seven years and then seven more years to secure the hand of his mother, Rachel. We know that his grandmother, Rebecca, when she was brought back to Isaac, he was immediately in love with her. We know that his great-grandmother, Sarah, at age 90, was still a stumbling block to Pharaoh. So we know Joseph has good genes. We know that he is, as the text tells us, a good-looking man. But it also tells us that Potiphar's wife noticed this as well. Cast her eyes on him. and sought to entice him into her bed. Verses 8 and 9, though, give us in wonderful language the way in which Joseph rebuffs, repels her advances. He says, behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house. He's put me everything that he has in my charge. He's not greater in the house than I. He's not coming back anything from me except you. Now, what's interesting to me about Joseph's words here is that for an unrighteous man, you can actually make the exact same case for giving in to Potiphar's One who did not trust the Lord, one who was not walking with the Lord could say, Potiphar has given me everything else. He's made me the man in charge. I'm the one who can do whatever he wants. In fact, in the household, he's not even greater than I am, except he's kept back his wife. And Joseph could have used that to, in his own mind, rationalize this wicked behavior. But the key, of course, is what Joseph says at the end of verse nine. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He recognized, despite the wife of Potiphar's desire for him, despite the fact that evidently the house was regularly empty of other men, and he could have indulged in this way. that ultimately to do so would be to sin against the very God who had brought him to this place. The very God who had rescued him from that cistern, taken him to Egypt, brought him to the highest position in the household of one of the highest men in the kingdom. Far from being spiritually haughty, and thinking, things are going well. I can indulge this, just this once. No, he recognizes that God, whose he is, refuses to sin against him. Potiphar's wife, though, doesn't give up, does she? Verse 10, day after day, the text tells us she's coming to him, coming on to him. This is why I titled this second point Potiphar's Wife Risks It All. She's not only risking his position, she's risking her own position. Adultery could be a capital offense for her just as much as it was for him. But we don't, the text doesn't tell us everything that she said over this period of time, day after day. Who knows what sort of promises she was making to him. Yeah, I'll get rid of Paul if you can become my husband, promising him anything or everything, we don't know. But we do know how Joseph responded. Now, this isn't a moralizing sermon about how to avoid temptation, but we would be foolish to ignore and to avoid and to miss the wisdom here, would we not? Verse 10, what does it tell us? He wouldn't listen to her. He wouldn't listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her. echoing the wisdom of Solomon in Proverbs, where he reminds his son, keep your way far from the adulterous woman. Do not go near the door of her house. Or as Paul warns Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, flee youthful passions. Or as Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 8, flee sexual immorality. Joseph is not willing to play with fire. He knows that if he is with her and he listens to her and he gets into the heat of the moment, that's when it's too late to decide, am I going to go ahead with this or not? He realizes he can't even get that position. So he shuns her properly, gives her the cold shoulder, refuses to be left alone with her, fleeing from her. This is wisdom for us. as we face such temptations from God's word, such wisdom. But perhaps the only thing worse than a temptress is a jilted temptress, a bitter temptress. She seems to decide that if she can't have him, then she will destroy him. She will ruin him. On one of these attempts to win him into her bed, she grabs his coat. He runs away again, fleeing temptation, and she says, aha, Now I have something I can use to concoct a story. She can't have him. She works to ruin him. Calls in all the other slaves. Makes up this story about his trying to assault her. That was obviously quite the opposite. Notice she can't even name her husband by name. She says in verse 14, he has brought among us this Hebrew. That so much is her respect for her husband. She can't even name him. He comes home and the text tells us she tells him the same story. Though she also adds that he came in to laugh at me, playing against his vanity and his desire to jealously, in a good sense. But you kind of wonder, has Potiphar heard this story before? After all, like I said earlier, he could, with all rights of Egyptian law, have Joseph executed. Perhaps he realizes that maybe there is more to this story, so he doesn't execute Joseph, but he does send him to prison. Put yourself in Joseph's sandals at this point. He's been brought low. He's been brought high. Now he's been brought back low again. You wonder if he's questioning Glitter is inner turmoil. You know, what did I do wrong? In which of those 20 steps of the Rube Goldberg machine of my life that I had planned for myself, you know, where did I go wrong? Where did I go off track? What did I do to deserve this? You could hear someone asking this sort of situation. You know, friends, often in our lives, we consider our own sanctification, our own growing and growth in holiness and in wisdom and in righteousness and knowledge of Christ and of his word. We often assume that that will track exactly with how we're doing in life otherwise. If we're healthy, our job is going well, we must be doing spiritually well. If we're sick, If we're having trouble at work, we must think, oh no, God is mad at me. You know, what have I done wrong? We seem to think that our sanctification and the worldly track of our lives are tied at the hip, as it were. But this tells us, this text tells us that is actually not. You know, there's actually a term for that sort of understanding of the way life works. It's, in Eastern religion, they call it karma, you know? Whatever you put in, then you get out. You put good things into life, you get good things out. You put bad things into life, you get bad things out. Scripture tells us that God's wise plan for our lives is not that straightforward. Does that mean that we don't work? No, we've already seen that's not the case. Does that mean we don't take righteousness seriously? No, we've seen that is of course the case, as Joseph demonstrated for us. But far from being those who believe that as long as we're good people, life will give us what we want. Should remember the words of Job. But his wife told him to curse God So how could I curse God who's giving me all these things? The Lord gives Job says the Lord takes away, but blessed. Be the name. Of the Lord. The verse 20 we see that Job Joseph is in prison. The Lord has brought him to this place. But as you noticed when I read this chapter, the chapter didn't end in verse 20, did it? Now verse 21 begins, 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. Whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. Joseph was in prison, but that doesn't mean the Lord was no longer with him. In your life, when you find yourselves in a place where you didn't plan, this wasn't in your 20 step process for the perfect ideal life. Your life doesn't seem to be receiving the output based on the input that you have put in. Lord, that doesn't mean the Lord is not with you. Lord is still your God. Did you notice the echoes of the beginning of the chapter here at the end of the chapter? Did you notice that the text explicitly makes those connections for us? Now verse 21, the Lord was with him, is an exact echo of verse 2, which told us the Lord was with him. The Lord gave him success in everything that he did. And verse 23 is an exact echo of verse 3. Verse 22, whatever was done there, he was the one who did it, is an echo of verse 4, where he was entrusted to everything that happened in the household of Potiphar. Verse 23, the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything in Joseph's charge, is a close echo of verse 6. Potiphar didn't concern himself with anything in his How, as Moses pins this text, he's going out of his way to show us the continuity of the Lord's providence in the life of Joseph. The Lord had not deserted this man, even as he was in the depths of prison. And he thought the cistern in the desert was batted off. Now he is in prison. But the Lord had not deserted him. It wasn't as if Joseph had made one false step and the Lord was through with him forever. No, these echoes are intentional. The Lord is still sovereign over his plan, not Potiphar's plan, not Potiphar's wife's plan, not Joseph's plan, not the warden of the prison's plan, the Lord's sovereign plan for his people. was being worked out, even, forget even, especially because Joseph was in prison. If you know the rest of Genesis, you know why the Lord placed him there. Because the Lord had purposes that, at this point, Joseph would not have understood or even believed. But the Lord knew that his promises that have been traced throughout this entire book of redemption to the seed of the woman, of blessing through Abraham to the nations of a great nation coming from Abraham and life itself for the promised land depended on the survival of Joseph's family. And the survival of Joseph's family depended on Joseph interpreting those dreams of the cupbearer and baker of Pharaoh. And that depended on what? Those men meeting Joseph where? In prison. The Lord was working the redemption of his people even through something like this, being thrown in prison for a crime he did not even commit. That's why I love how verse 21 focuses on the fact that even in prison, The Lord was showing Joseph steadfast love. That's covenant love. That's love that's bound up in the very character of a promise-making and keeping God. This was the God who was with Joseph even in prison. Friends, as we conclude this evening and we think of Joseph, Think of what he has experienced in this chapter. He's been given so much, yet in a way Potiphar's wife tried to offer him even more. Yet he resisted temptation. It was brought to a place where he could provide salvation for his people. In so doing, he provides us a beautiful picture of our Savior, does he not? The Savior who had all things and set them aside for us went to a mountain outside of Jerusalem and was tempted by Satan with what? The entire world. I'll give it all to you if you would only bow down to me. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, resisted, defeated that temptation, and therefore, what, was brought to a place where he could provide salvation for his people. Being made the perfect and spotless Lamb of God, specifically because of the righteousness that he won in a life that resisted the temptation of Satan himself. Say what you want about despicable behavior of Bonhoeffer's wife, she's not Satan. but Jesus faced Satan himself. Resisting that temptation, made himself to be the perfect savior of his people so that he could go to another mountain or hillside outside of Jerusalem. And as that perfect sacrifice lay down his life for you and for me. Joseph was fortunate, if you will, to escape with his life in this text. Jesus willingly laid his down for his people. And that's how you can know that this steadfast love of the Lord is with you, just as it was with Joseph. Friends, we've seen from this text that God calls us to obedience. Yes. God calls us to work. Yes, but ultimately his plan for our lives does not depend on our achieving good ends because of how good we are, how hard we work, how perfect we are, because we are yet sinners. But that doesn't negate the fact that a good and sovereign God is watching over us, is caring for us, is tending for us, his people, bringing salvation to perfection, even through, especially through, those trials. So that's when it when it's all said and done. We can be like the psalmist. Who said this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous at our eyes. Can we pray? Lord God, we thank you for your son Jesus. We thank you for what he was willing to endure for us. We thank you for how on the cross he defeated sin and the empty tomb, defeated even death itself, that we could be assured of eternal life despite what this life may bring. May we have courage to walk according to your ways. May we have confidence to know that your word is true. May we have the hope that Christ will return to call us home, that our faith may be made sight. Lord, we ask this in his name, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.