For the folks listening in on the live stream, if you need volume adjustments, text me please. If you don't have my number, put a comment on and I'll try to go back and check it in a few minutes. Good morning. Let's all stand together. We'll sing hymn number 15 together. Hymn number 15. Number 15 sorry. Number 15. Brethren, we have been to worship and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. Heaven praying, holy manna will be flowing all around. ♪ Preference see poor sinners round you ♪ ♪ Slumbering on the brink of woe ♪ ♪ Death is coming, hell is moving ♪ ♪ Can you bear to let them go ♪ See our fathers and our mothers and our children seeking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling? ♪ Hard with sin ♪ Tell them all about the Savior ♪ Tell them that he will be found ♪ Sisters pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home to heaven. At his table we'll sit down. Christ will gird himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 326. 326. More about Jesus would I know More of his grace to others show More of His love have died for me. More, more of that Jesus. Jesus, for of this ♪ Coldest sea ♪ ♪ Lord of His love ♪ ♪ Here die for me ♪ ♪ More about Jesus ♪ ♪ Let me learn ♪ ♪ For of His holy will discern ♪ ♪ Spirit of God my teacher be ♪ ♪ Showing the things of Christ to me ♪ ♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪ More of his saving ♪ ♪ Policing ♪ More of this love you died for me. More about Jesus in this word. my lord. Hearing his voice in every line, making each face More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of his love who died for me. More about Jesus on his throne. Riches and glory of his own, For of his kingdom sure increase, For of his coming Prince of Peace. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, if you would open them with me to the book of Ephesians. I'd like to read Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. And you, hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, For his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come you might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus into good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Having abolished his flesh, the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, were to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, that he might reconcile both unto God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God. and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also were built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Our most high and heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, We bow our heads before you once more. We bow our heads and our hearts come to you through your blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for such a precious, a perfect covenant, covenant of grace, covenant of mercy, We thank you for your loving kindness, thy tender mercies. Lord, we thank you that they're new each day. Lord, we thank you for the saints who are gathered out here this morning and those who are listening in. Lord, we thank you for Brother Cody being here this morning. Thank you for your pastors, wherever they may be, wherever saints are gathered, Lord, we thank you for them. Lord, we thank you for this precious gospel. Thank you for the blessed truth and thank you for revealing it to our hearts. Showing mercy upon our souls. Father, we ask that you would meet with us today and send your spirit among us. Ask that you would bless this meeting. For we ask that you would teach our hearts, give us ears to hear. Cause us to worship you, Lord, in spirit and in truth. For if you don't, we'll be gathered in vain. For we pray for the many weak and the weary, those who are thick in this flesh, Lord, we know that you can raise them up if it be thy will. It will please you. Lord, we pray for, pray for our children. Pray for our, for my unborn child, Lord, to show mercy. Lord, we pray for the sheep wherever they be. Pray that you would send your word abroad, cause a great revival. We know that you'll gather them from all ends of the earth. Lord, we bless thy holy name. We ask that thy will be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together as we sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Assemble yourselves and honor the king. He sits on the throne. ♪ Deep triumphs we sing ♪ ♪ King Jesus who died to atone for our sin ♪ ♪ Came forth from the tomb and delivered the king ♪ ♪ The Lamb from above ♪ He died in the rows. The work is all done. He took on himself all our debt to repay. The sins of his people the robots show. He liveth again, we praise the great King O terrible death, where now is life's sting? Enthroned in His glory, Almighty to save Victorious is conquest for sin and the grave. He conquered the tomb and liveth above. All praise to his name. Be seated. Delighted to have Brother Cody Henson with us this morning. Thank you for braving the cold rain and snow. I know it's supposed to get really cold this evening. We're glad to have you, Brother. He's informed me that he's a little bit under the weather, so we're not going to do our normal handshakes and hugs after service. He's going to step out. And we're expecting some more snow and some frigid temperatures. Cody's got a long way to travel home with his family, so we're not going to have evening services. We will only be meeting this morning. So again, no evening services. We will, Lord willing, reconvene on Wednesday evening. Brother Cody, you come on and bring what you have. No, I'm not Todd Maverick, but I like this adjustment here. I need help. It's nice being higher up. All right, well, good morning. Good to be with you all. And I was thinking I haven't felt particularly well, but I'm just as dependent on the Lord to bless his word in spite of me, whether I feel well or not. We're so dependent on our Lord every moment of every day. We can do nothing. And I think when we feel weighed down by Whatever it is, we're reminded of that. I invite your attention to the book of Genesis chapter 39. Genesis chapter 39. After I was here at our conference, back in November, I felt led to go through the story of Joseph with my Sunday school class that I teach back in Kingsport. And I've also been feeling led to preach from the story of Joseph. Here, we looked at Genesis 41 last time. The story of Joseph really begins in chapter 37. But I want to look here today at chapter 39. I think we'll have time to get through the whole chapter. Now today, we're gonna see Joseph as a picture of Christ and what's done to him, his position in what he does and in what he doesn't do, and in what he says and in what he doesn't say, all right? Now look here at Genesis 39, verse one. And Joseph was brought down into 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. And the Lord was with Joseph. He was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Joseph, it tells us, is brought down into Egypt. Christ our Savior willingly came down from heaven's glory into this world. Joseph, he wasn't, he was being sent. He wasn't going willingly, but Christ did. He came, he came on purpose. He came according to his own will. That was the purpose of God for him to come. Now right here, something that stuck out to me is he sold the second time. If you recall in chapter 37, at the end of that chapter, his brothers sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelites. Now right here, those people sold him too. Sold him the second time. And if you go back and look in chapter 37, it says that he was sold the first time for 20 pieces of silver. I have no doubt that these men sold him for a little bit more. My guess is 30 pieces. We're not told. But again, what a great picture of Christ he is regardless. Such a great picture of Christ. And Potiphar here, when he bought him, there's no doubt he got a steal of a deal, no matter what he paid for him. This is Joseph. Remember who Joseph pictures? Christ. What's he worth to us? Do we just desire to profit off of him? Get what out of him that we can? No true reverence for him? That's the point. Do we just want him because of what we can get from him? Or do we love him? We need him. Now, it tells us right here that the Lord was with Joseph. His brothers forsook him. Those many nights they had him for a little bit, got rid of him. But the Lord was with him. The Lord never stopped being with him. And I love how it also tells us right here that he prospered. Verse two, he was a prosperous man. And that's Christ. And if God has put us in Christ, if God has, as you just read, quickened us together with Christ, We're prosperous, too, because we're in him. We're in the prosperous man. Psalm 1, verse 3 says, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Speaking of Christ, the blessed man, and God sees to it that his people prosper in him. Now, whether or not it feels like it, it often feels like we're not prospering, doesn't it? You know, here in a little while, Jacob says, all these things are against me. No, God saw to it that he prospered. And again, if we're in Christ, if we've been joined to Christ, God will see to it that we prosper too. Prosper in Him forever. And it's all about union with Christ. That's where prosperity comes from. Verse three right here. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over his house. All that he had, he put into his hand. The Lord made everything Joseph did here to prosper in his hand. Again, picture in Christ, everything he ever did prospered. People speak of God, people speak of Jesus or Jesus Christ as someone who You know, he did this, and he's hoping for this, and he's trying for this. No, no. He prospered in everything he ever did. He never failed at anything. In Isaiah 42, when we read, this is my servant, my elect, it's Christ. God's chosen is Christ in whom his soul delighted. And it says he shall not fail or even be discouraged. That's what Joseph pictures right here. And it's glorious. You look at the cross and you say, oh, well, Did he prosper there? There's never been a greater prosperity than the cross. Who had their way at the cross? He did. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. In Isaiah 53, we're told that, and he is the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. That was the pleasure of the Lord. The cross of Christ was the pleasure of the Lord, and it prospered in his hand, Christ's hand. He made it to prosper. He didn't save himself because he hung there saving others. You know, that's what they said. He saved others himself, he can't save. That's the whole point. He hung there on purpose. He laid down his life of himself. No man took it from him. It's his own will. We're told right here that Joseph found grace in Potiphar's sight. You know who finds favor, good standing in the sight of God Almighty? The Son. and all those who are in the Son. If we're not in Christ, it's not gonna be well with us. We must be with Him. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We must be in Christ. When Christ died, I died. When Christ rose, I rose. As He lives right now, we live in Him. That's my hope. There's no other hope. I love this too. It tells us in verse four that Joseph served Him. Again, Potiphar bought him as a servant, as a slave, okay? You think, think how wonderfully he must have served Potiphar. How beautifully did Christ serve the father? And you realize, when Christ came here and he was serving the father, we're the benefactors of that. He was serving us and serving him. Again, people get all caught up in how they're serving God and doing this for God. My hope is not in what I'm doing for God, but in what God has done for me. Christ, the servant of God. The king became a servant. He served oh so well. But nothing I can do to add to that. All I can do is mess it up. Praise God, I can't mess it up. Because it's finished. Complete in him. Verse five, and it came to pass from the time that he'd made him overseer in his house and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. Verse six, and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat. Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. God bless this man's house for one reason, for Joseph's sake. And everybody wants to be blessed of God, right? Are His blessings something that we can earn by what we do and what we don't do? But everybody thinks what people lost in religion think. That's what I, but for the grace of God, would think is that I can go out here and earn God's blessings. God's blessings are in Christ. He is the blessing of God. If we have Him, we have all God's blessings. In Ephesians 1, all spiritual blessings, they're in Him. They're not for us to earn. We can't earn them. Again, regardless of how we feel, it really is irrelevant. If we have Christ, we have everything. I told that rich young ruler, that fellow felt really good about himself. He said, yet one thing thou lackest. You know what his problem was? He didn't have Christ. He had money. He had his own good works to look to. He had morale and principles, but he didn't have Christ. I'm sure he had the praise of men. Is that what we're looking for? You know who didn't have the praise of men? Christ. But he had the praise of God Almighty. What matters to us? I love this too. It's very obvious from these few verses we just read how much Potiphar trusted Joseph. He trusted him fully, didn't he? put everything into His hand, made Him the overseer of His house, made Him the greatest in that house. Do you know Christ is Lord over all? You know there's nothing that's not under His hand. His reign is over everything and everybody. Oh, if we could trust Him, safest thing we could ever do, and it takes God's grace and God-given faith to do it. Oh, but may we trust in Him. Excuse me, trusting him completely. Now, the end of verse six tells us that Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. What this means is he was outwardly beautiful. That's all that means. Now, that right there, that fact, now, again, we know he's a young man, okay? He was 17 when his brothers sold him, so a whole lot of time couldn't have gone by yet, and he's outwardly beautiful. Now that leads into our text, okay? 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. Lie with me. First thing I wanna say about this is, this woman, Potiphar's wife, she represents you and me. What do we see? That's us. That's us. Now, it's not certain how much time has gone by since he's been away from his brothers and been in Potiphar's house, but I'll tell you this. Just from what it tells us, it's been sometime between a few days and 11 years. And he's a young man. Being a picture of Christ, I have no doubt that he was a virgin. He wasn't even an adult when he was sold. And now this house in which he's been glorified and exalted, the queen of that house wants him for herself. Do you think that was a temptation for him? Just pointing out the few things I've just said, do you think that was tempting for him? I would think so, wouldn't you? Lie with me, lie with me. You know, it's one thing to give a look, it's another thing to come and verbalize it. Look at verse eight. But he refused. And he said unto his master's wife, now look at what he said right here, this is so wonderful. Behold, my master knoweth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater than me in this house than I, or none greater in this house than I, Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? I find so much hope in those three words. But he refused. There's so much more to this than just doing the right thing. He refused. We ought not commit adultery. I think we all know that. But let me tell you something. We're all guilty of it. She wasn't guilty of committing adultery even when she said lie with me. She was guilty before that. The moment she first looked upon him and lusted after him in her heart, God says guilty of adultery. We're guilty long before the act is ever committed. We're guilty even if the act itself is never committed. You gotta understand that. Guilty, our problem, mine and yours, is in here. Now we do a lot of ridiculous, foolish, sinful things hourly. But even if we somehow don't, our problem's just, we're just as bad. I think by God's grace, if God truly reveals ourselves to us, we can acknowledge that we're worse than the most outwardly shameful, reproachable person we could think of. When Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners, did he say I'm worse than most people? No, he said, I'm the chief. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. You know, we can just turn the news on. You read about some really despicable things. Here's the thing. Look within. Look within. Oh, it's so despicable. He refused. As a picture of Christ, our Lord knew no sin. He never sinned. Now, Joseph, here's something I want to say. Though we don't read about his sins, Joseph was a sinner just like you and me. Christ is the only sinless man. There's no other sinless man. There never has been, never will be. which is him. And yet in Joseph's, in his service to Potiphar, in his refusal to lie with her, so beautifully pictures our Lord. So beautifully pictured our Lord. We read that Christ was tempted in all points, like as we are yet without sin. But I want to make something very clear on that. Never really thought about this before, but when we think about being tempted, here's the thought that runs through my mind. You're tempted to do something. You really want to, but you don't. You really want to do it, but you just barely hold off from doing it. Thank you. Is that how your temptations are? You just really want to commit the sin, but you didn't do it. Is that how temptations were for our Lord? Is that how temptations were for him? He wanted to commit the sin, but he didn't? No, no, no. Had he wanted to do it, that would have been sin. Again, it's the desire to do the sin that's the sin itself. In the heart, heart. The meaning of tempted, when the Lord was tempted, like as we are yet without sin, means to test, to make trial of one, to put him to the proof. And how wonderfully Joseph pictures our Lord. But he refused. Our Lord refused. He was tempted. Remember when the devil tempted him? You just jump off this cliff, the angels come and lift you up. You just turn these stones into bread, you're hungry, you can do that. I shall not tempt the Lord thy God. He's not going to fall for any temptation. Because he can't. He's God. He's perfect. He can't sin. And that's the exact opposite of you and me. Whether we fall into the temptation or not is irrelevant. We're guilty of every sin in our heart. I'm thinking about Potiphar's wife right here. We can relate to her in the sense of our heart is full of sinful thoughts every day. Lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, that just runs through us all the time. But it's sad here when you think about how little regard and love she had for her husband. Sad, isn't it? You know how little regard and love we have for Christ Jesus by nature? Even now, brother, do you not feel so cold in your heart all the time? Yeah, I didn't. And Joseph, on the other hand, he acknowledged in his answer here, he acknowledged his master. He acknowledged his God. He said, how can I commit this great sin against God? Are we concerned about our sin against God? We ought to be. We ought to be. Sin is not a light thing, it's not something to be taken lightly. And by the time this message is over, I pray that we, I pray that God would cause us to truly know how desperately we need Christ, whom Joseph pictures. Verse 10. And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie about her, or to be with her. She was persistent. This was one of those times when they're just not going to take no for an answer. Day after day after day after day, here she comes, making her advancements. Lie with me. Lie with me. Again, in just thinking about this situation, and again, I don't know how much time went by. It could have been years. It likely was, at least a few years, really, if you think about it, it likely was. And there's no telling what all she tried. Imagine all the looks she must have given him. You know, Joseph in there going about doing his business, turns the corner, whoa. I mean, really, just trying to think about it. And then all the time coming to him and saying, lie with me, lie with me, lie with me, but he refused. He hearkened not unto her. You know, in talking about how Joseph himself was indeed a sinner like us, I want to say this. God forbid we think we are above falling into a great sin. You think about David, he had a great fall, didn't he? Yet he needed that fall. God just might let us fall, but he won't let us go. I want to show you a verse. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians 10. We're not above falling into sin. Great sin. We're not. I'm not. First Corinthians 10. Look with me. Verse 12. Read two verses here. First Corinthians 10 verse 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. We think we're strong. We think we're able to withstand, refrain from the temptation. I tell you my hope, but God is faithful. You're going to be tempted, but God's faithful. Who are we trusting in? Trust in Christ. Sinless one. Lord, is this not what we pray? Lead us not into temptation. We'll fall into it. Lead us not from it. Deliver us from the evil. We need these things. They're important. I can't keep myself kept by the power of God. Back in our text, Genesis 39, verse 11. Genesis 39, verse 11. And it came to pass, about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. Here she gives it her best shot. I'm gonna get him now, is what she thought. Last attempt here. You notice something that she did here that she hadn't done before? At least that we hadn't read about yet? She put her hands on him. See that? First of all, she caught him by his garment. No accident. We got close enough to him that she touched him. I think that's significant. Daily for weeks, months, possibly years, He's been giving him looks. He's been coming up to him and saying, lie with me. Imagine the sweet voice she must have had when she said that. Lie with me. Imagine what she must have had on. Here she comes. Nobody's in the house, just her and Joseph. I can't help but wonder if Joseph's garment is the only garment anybody had on. I have no doubt that she was gonna make sure this was a great temptation, greater than her previous temptation. What's he gonna do? When here's the ultimate temptation, what are you gonna do, Joseph? Is he finally gonna fall? Think about when those men constantly came to the Lord Jesus, they tempted him and tried to trip him up in his words and made all these accusations against him, false accusations on my dad. Was he eventually just gonna blow a gasket like we say? Were they eventually gonna catch him in some sort of sin? Impossible. You see what Joseph said right here, didn't you? He left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. He let her have it. He let her have it. Could he not? Could he not have taken her hands off of his garment and got out? Couldn't he? Does anyone ever put their hands on you and you take them off of you? I mean, physically speaking, he could have done that, right? Get off me. But he didn't. He laid hold of his garment. He just let her have it. He got out of there. Our Lord cannot be contaminated by sin, and yet he came here to be made sin for sinners. Father, that woman crawled through that crowd of people that were surrounding our Lord. No doubt he's being bumped against by many people, and yet the woman with the issue of blood, right, and she touched him. Although many people were rubbing up against him, he said, who touched me? Somebody touched me. Virtue's gone out of me. Our Lord is the friend of publicans and sinners, but the only sinners who, the only sinners this pertains to are those who've been shown what they are. Those who've been shown their sin. Again, the religious leaders that constantly came to the Lord for all the wrong reasons. They were sinners because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but they didn't know it. They never knew it. They thought they were righteous. In fact, they accused him of being a sinner. They sure had that wrong, didn't they? What did our Lord trade? You know, this woman brings sin to Joseph. What's he give her? His garment. The garment, no doubt, pictures the righteousness of Christ, just like his coat of many colors. He gave righteousness for sin. He was met with sin. What did he do? He gave his righteousness. Our Lord himself is all the riches of God. Yet what did he do? What did he trade? He traded his riches. He traded his unsearchable wealth, or poverty. I'm not talking about money. The poverty of sin, the poverty of being cut off and separated. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There's no poverty like that. Beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of salvation for the spirit of heaviness. All these things. You think about what he took upon himself and what he gave us freely in spite of us. Verse 13, 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 hath brought in in Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. And it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out. That's just a flat-out lie, isn't it? There's no truth in that. Hm. Here's what I want you to see. Just like Joseph's brothers, they took his garment, that coat of many colors, and they made a lie out of it. She took that garment, Joseph's garment, and she made a lie out of it. See that? They had Joseph's garment. All they wanted to do was just lie about it, lie on him. Why did she tell this lie? She was angry, wasn't she? She was insulted. Who do you think you are to resist me, refuse me? Here's the problem. She wanted Joseph on her terms. But she couldn't have him. This whole world wants Jesus on their terms. It's not going to be. We're going to have him. We're going to have him on his terms, not ours. Says she represents us. She also represents false religion. She couldn't have Joseph, so what'd she do? She lies on him. She lies on him. Having received not the love of the truth, people believe a lie. By nature, it's what we do. Change the truth of God or exchange the truth of God for a lie. It's okay to sin. God won't punish sin. Oh, God loves you anyway. He'll just sweep it under the rug. That's a lie. It's a lie. Adultery isn't that bad. Nope, no one's gonna know. You know, I could just see her telling Joseph, I won't tell Potiphar. I won't tell him. He'll never find out. God knows everything. Nothing's hid from him. He sees the secret sins of our heart. Are we concerned about that? Does that give us pause to acknowledge that? I can have Jesus on my terms. After all, I accepted him. Oh, I love him. I gave him my heart. I'm following him. I'm living for him. I'm doing his work. That's a lie. God won't have it. If we're gonna have Jesus Christ, we're gonna have him on his terms. It can be no other way. How do we have him? The Father chose a people and gave them to him, committed them into his hand, into his care, and he came to save them. He that hath the Son hath life. How do we have Him? How do we believe on Him? Well, I decided to believe. I exercised my faith. Did you know? You just read it. Faith is the gift of God. It means we don't produce it. We don't conjure it up. You mean to tell me I can't believe, I can't be saved unless God? That's right. Again, you just read it. But God, we're just here dead in sins. But God, you take that out, nobody's going to be saved. and our Lord brought before Pilate. False witnesses were brought before Him. People to come lie on Him. Why? Why didn't they bring blind Bartimaeus? Why didn't they bring that blind man in John chapter 9 who was blind from his birth? Why didn't they bring that woman with the issue of blood? Why didn't they bring Zacchaeus? Why didn't they bring that Canaanite woman? Why didn't they bring these witnesses? They would have been true witnesses. Again, the cross was purposed by God. It wasn't, we need to find a way out of this. When Christ prayed, Lord, if my father, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass from me, he wasn't trying to get out of it. That's to show us the gravity and the reality of what he suffered for us. But he came here for that reason, for this cause, the whole reason he came into the world. Let me say this. It's true at the cross. It's true here, we can see it here in the story of Joseph. The truth is going to prevail. It always does. Oh, that's so terrible. What just happened to Joseph? What we're about to read, that's so terrible. I get it, it seems terrible. You go lie on somebody, that's not right. You shouldn't do that. But the truth prevails. What's the truth? Truth is a person, it's Christ. He said, I'm the truth. prevails. He always does. Now look here verse 16. She laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home Potiphar and she spake unto him according to these words saying the Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to mock me and it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled out and it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife which she spake unto him saying after this manner did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled. Here she is, she told the lies to the men of the house. And let me say this, some time must have passed by when that happened with her and Joseph, and when he let her have his garment and fled out, because what we read after that is that she cried out to the men of the house, but there was nobody in the house. We're told that, it was just them. So a little time has no doubt passed. Now Potiphar comes home and she lies to him, tells that great lie to him too. Now remember, Potiphar in a way certainly pictures God the Father. Exalted Joseph. Father hath highly exalted Christ. And yet here she is lying to him. You know, it's a very serious matter to lie on God. How many churches right now are lying on God? It's... And God clearly allows it, right? God shall send them strong delusion that they might believe the lie. Love not the truth. And yet I love to know this. In a few years, her lie is going to be found out. Going to be found out. We can believe a lie on God if we want to. I don't advise it. I strongly advise against it. I pray God will cause us all to believe the truth. But if we die believing a lie on God, we're going to be found out. It's not going to be well with us. I don't want that for anybody. She's gonna bow to Joseph. You know that when the time comes when that famine comes if she needs corn, where's she gonna go? Only one place Joseph the one she lied about and have thrown into prison All are gonna make obeisance to me Joseph said including her she lied on it, but You know, it's like in Psalm 2 where the heathen rage the people imagine a vain thing yet. The Lord shall laugh I love that Lord shall have them in derision Because he's the one that reigns. He reigned in his father's house, didn't he? He reigned in Potiphar's house. He's about to reign in prison. And then he's going to reign in Egypt. He just reigns everywhere he goes. That's Christ. He reigns over everywhere and everything, everyone. Some of the very ones that crucified our Lord were a short time later brought to faith in him. I love knowing that, too. When they heard the gospel preached, they were pricked in their hearts. What are we going to do? I can't help but wonder if Potiphar even truly believed her. I know it says his wrath was kindled. He fully trusted Joseph. I certainly think it's possible that he at the very least doubted her. But for love's sake, he did what he's about to do right here, because love covers a multitude of sins. But regardless, God's gonna overrule this evil for good. He's going to. Verse 20, he always does. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison. You know, I would imagine that crime would be worthy of death. That's one reason I suspect he may have doubted her. But he throws Joseph into prison, and let me say this, when a sin is committed, a price must be paid. Someone's gonna have to suffer for this sin, this lie that was told, and this lust. You know, Christ hung on the cross for sins that he didn't commit. We know that, don't we? No guile in his mouth, no sin in him. But he took ownership of them, made them his own, took them from us, and made them his own and died for them. In that sense, you could say that Joseph's in prison as her substitute. She's the one that deserved to be thrown in prison, wasn't she? Not him. We don't read, and I'm glad we don't. We don't read of Joseph's response to Potiphar, but we do read that our Lord opened not his mouth. I wonder if he did. As a picture of Christ, maybe that's why we're not told that he said anything. Opened not his mouth. You know, Joseph had a law to keep. He had a law to his master. He was his servant. Did he break it? He said, he said, my master has given me everything. The only thing he's kept back from me is you. Did he break it or did he keep it? Did he keep that law fully? You know, that woman, she had a lot. She had a lot of her husband, too. How could she be married to another? How can we be married to ourself and our works and Christ? We can't. It's one of the other. You know, only when that only when that Husband or wife dies, are we free from the law? Only when we are dead to sin are we free. Married to another. Who are we married to? Christ. Married to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous servant. He kept the law, didn't he? He kept the law perfectly. Every jot, every tittle. Magnified it, made it honorable. Who'd he do it for? Bunch of sinners, just like Potiphar's wife, just a sinner. No goodness. Verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph, showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. I said it earlier, the Lord never stopped being with Joseph, and if we're in Christ, the Lord will never stop being with us. What does God have for us in Christ? Mercy, favor, Verse 22, and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison. Whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. Everything is in the hands of our Lord. Nobody in that prison could do anything. Naturally, we're prisoners to sin, but God has made it so that we're prisoners of Jesus Christ. Would you rather be anyone else's prisoner? I don't want to go to prison. I suspect none of us do. But if you told me Jesus Christ was there, I couldn't get there soon enough. Is that where you want to be with him? That's where I want to be. Verse 23. Keeper of the prison 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, just like Potiphar. This keeper of the prison fully trusted Joseph. Do we trust Christ? Do we look within and see any kind of goodness? I'm telling you, from this account, we're Potiphar's wife. We're the sinner. We're the sin. Trust in Him. Trust in Him. Everything He did, the Lord made it to prosper. We can trust in Him. I pray God would give us faith to trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have a word of prayer. Our merciful Father, Lord God Almighty, we come to you once more with thankful hearts. We thank you for this word. Thank you for this message. Thank you for the one who stood here and brought it forth. Lord, we pray for traveling mercies as they travel home, as all these saints travel home. Lord, we pray for travel and mercies for our pastor and his dear wife as they make their way back here. Lord, we ask that you would keep us. Ask that you would keep us each and every day, each and every moment of every day. Lord, if you don't keep us, we won't be kept. We sure can't keep ourselves. Lord, keep us in thy mercy. Keep us in thy grace. Keep us clinging unto thee. Lord, we ask that you'd keep us from ourselves and from this world. Cause us to do thy will. Lord, we ask that you would allow us to meet together again, to hear thy gospel once more. For best I will be done in all things, for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord. For giving to me Thy great salvation, so rich and free. You're dismissed. We'll meet again Wednesday evening, Lord willing.