We're going to turn this evening in our Bibles to Genesis 39. I thank Mr. Martin for his words of welcome. It is good to be here this evening and have the opportunity of opening up the Word again. And we trust the Lord will bless us in a very real way as we gather before him tonight and consider the message. I'm sure many of you know I already had picked out, as it were, where I would be preaching. Genesis 39. The subject this evening is Joseph's life and six words. And those six words are found here at the beginning of verse 2 of Genesis 39. And the Lord was with Joseph. And we want to look at those words tonight. But before we read, we're going to read the chapter, for I feel we need to do that. It's a marvelous chapter. We'll be looking at a lot of it tonight. Using this text as a springboard to make our way through the chapter, and we therefore want to read the entire passage, so we will look to the Lord in prayer. Let's unite our hearts together. Father in heaven, we again lift up our souls to Thee. We do not do so in some mere mundane fashion, but with a sense of our need and with a longing to meet with God on this occasion. Lord, we come to fresh ground, we have not passed this way heretofore, and so we pray that thou wilt breathe on us. We pray for the breath of life and power. O God, we cry to thee for help. We thank thee for the promised Holy Spirit, and may he fall upon us now. Come upon preacher and hearer, and speak to our hearts, we pray. Minister this night through thy word, Lord, may the searchlight of truth go home to every soul. May there be a work done for eternity. May the blessing and the power of the Lord be felt. Deal with every heart, we pray. Come and minister to us now. We shall give thee the praise and the glory. We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Genesis 39, verse number one. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 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, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he knew not what he had save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said, lie with me. But he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold my master what is not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is 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? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he heartened not unto her to lie by her, or to be with her. 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. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth that she called on to the men of her house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an 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. And she laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home. 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. 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. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, He was the doer of it. The 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. And God will add his blessing to the reading of his own precious and blessed word. You may have heard the story that Michelangelo, the famous painter, of a bygone age is reputed to have drawn a portrait with a single stroke of his brush. Now, I don't know whether that story is true or not, and it would be hard to imagine a man being able to do that, although he was, of course, such a wonderful artist. But be it true or not, we can certainly say that in our text, the Holy Spirit presents the entire life of Joseph. in a single statement, actually in these six words here at the opening of verse number two, and the Lord was with Joseph. That marvelous ability of the Holy Spirit to summarize a person's life in a few words is seen in various examples in the Word of God. For example, Abraham's life of faith is revealed in that observation Abraham believed God. And right there you really have a summary of that man's life. The dominant feature of Moses' character that essentially made him the man that he was is what is found in the statement, the man Moses was very meek. Or if you think of Caleb, who we'll be looking at one of these nights, his testimony is encapsulated in the divine testimony that he wholly followed the Lord. And so we could go on adjusting example after example of the Spirit's marvelous ability to memorialize a person's life in just a few little words like these that we have this evening. But what I want you to notice here is that the Holy Spirit's graphic sketches of men and women too in the Bible give to us the real view and the real character of these individuals. And so in these words, the Lord was with Joseph, we have the real Joseph. I say that because when men sometimes write their biographies, about other people, of course. For various reasons, they dare not go very deep at all. So their stories are rarely, rarely true. But the Holy Spirit, as the Bible shows us in these examples I have given you, will openly and honestly present the truth. And so when we read these words about Joseph, we know that this is not at all an attempt to make Joseph look good. It says here, and the Lord was with Joseph. What is said right there is an insight into Joseph's entire life and indeed beyond the outer life, right into the very depth of his being, into the inner life, into the character of the man, the spiritual character of the man. When the Holy Spirit writes about Joseph as he does in these words, when he projects his life in this marvelous way, he does not say, for example, that he was the favored son of old Jacob, or that he became the prime minister of Egypt. The Holy Spirit tells us something that's far more important, and that is that the Lord was with this man. We should keep in mind that what is said here about Joseph in these words is what was desired in the Bible for every child of God. That is that the Lord will be with each true Christian. Remember that great name that's given to our Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. And that, of course, is a revelation. That name is a revelation of God's redemptive purpose for his people. that the Lord will be with His people. And thank God He is with His people. That is why Christ came into the world. That's why there's a plan and a purpose and a scheme of redemption. That the Lord of glory will be with sinners like us. Dwelling with us, being with us, we knowing His presence and His nearness, and knowing the help that he gives and the grace that he gives and is working in our lives and knowing in this marvelous way the Lord coming alongside and intervening in our lives. I was saying last night concerning Manasseh, when we look at Manasseh, how he was so wonderfully saved, that salvation is really God's intervention in a person's life. And the Lord coming to take a sinner and make something of that sinner with the great purpose of dwelling with that person forevermore. Isn't that a marvelous thing? That's what salvation is. A covenant God who has entered into a binding agreement to be the God of wretches like us and take us to be his people. and dwell with us forevermore. And you will find throughout the Bible that kind of language over and over and over again. And therefore it is redemptive language. The Lord was with Joseph. If you extend that idea in your thinking, you will remember what we're taught, for example, in the benedictions that Paul writes at the close of his epistles, the benedictions of of the apostle are really prayers. They are earnest prayers offered up by the Lord's servant on behalf of God's people. And so, for example, in the book of Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, Paul's prayer is, the Lord be with you all. The Lord be with you all. Now he just did not write those words to make it sound good, as I said, about the Holy Spirit saying this about about Joseph as he winds up his epistle. The Lord be with you all. He was not trying to sound pious or make it appear that he just wants these people to feel good about themselves. No, he really meant it because he's moved by the Holy Spirit to write those words. The Lord be with you all. or the church in the city of Rome. The closing words there essentially are, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And so you can go through Paul's epistles and some of the other epistles of other men and you'll find this kind of closing word. This marvelous desire on the part of the writer that the Lord will be with his people and will bless his people and keep his people, because that's exactly what the Lord purposes to do when he saves them from their sins. May I suggest to you that Joseph was living in the conscious experience of what the Holy Spirit says in these words, and the Lord was with Joseph. This is not a reference to a theoretical matter. This was abundantly true in Joseph's life. The Lord was with him. It is not either a mere theological fact with reference to Joseph. It was Joseph's experience. The Lord was with this man. And throughout his whole life, he lived in the enjoyment of what these words revealed experientially. These words are true. Joseph experienced what is said in these six words. And how vital that experiential sense of the words actually is. The believer living the Christian life feeling and knowing that the Lord is with him. Now sometimes feelings can be dangerous if they are not born of God or not created by the Holy Spirit. And we often warn people to be careful about feelings, but at the same time, brethren and sisters, we are real human beings and the Lord has made us with feelings and whenever God saves us, He doesn't take our feelings away, but rather our feelings are sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost and by the power of the Gospel. And there's nothing I detest more than the trend today away from experiential Christianity. True biblical Christianity is an experiential matter. And may the Lord save us from deadness and even an orthodoxy that kills. And give to us in our own lives and in the life of the whole church this blessed experiential enjoyment of the Lord. That's what God's church needs. That's what I need, that's what you need more and more and more. The enjoyment, the experiential enjoyment of the Lord's being with us. Not a mere theory, not a bare theological fact. The Lord's with us, people. And we dot the I stroke the T of such a fact. No, rather that the text here and its context make it very, very clear. to the Bible believer, to the child of God, that this is what the Lord desires for us, to live in the conscious, experiential enjoyment of the Lord being with us every day and every moment. And so I want us to consider that line of thought tonight from these particular words, and the Lord was with Joseph. I want us to look first of all at how he was with Joseph. In other words, the explanation of this experience. How was he with Joseph? And when we look at different aspects of Joseph's life, we are able to see and explain something in the light of Scripture of this experience of the Lord being with his people and their enjoyment of him in that respect. The explanation of this experience of the Lord being with a man like Joseph lies within the fact that it was by the Word of God, first and foremost, that the Lord was with this man, that he present himself with him and came into his life and dealt with him and remained with him throughout his entire days. This statement that the Lord was with Joseph is true right from the very beginning of the time you meet Joseph on the page of Scripture. And you see that, turning back to chapter 37 of Genesis, you see that the Word of God was very, very dominant even in those early references to this man, or young man as he is here in chapter 37 and even again in chapter 39. A young man and the Lord with him at that early age of 17 years. That's the age he is here in chapter 37 and he's not much more when you get into chapter 39. But look here in Genesis 37. And we know the story of Joseph very well from Sunday school days if we were brought up in the things of the Lord at all. And the dreams of Joseph as they are called. But look at verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream and told it his brethren. And then verse nine, and he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren. And what we must remember is this prominent feature of Joseph's life, these dreams that he had, is not a reference to the kind of dream that you and I have obviously. When we have taken something late at night and it causes us to dream. Maybe too much cheese or whatever it might be. That's not what the Bible's talking about here. And I think we all know that. This is divine revelation. The Lord was speaking to Joseph. And I know that those dreams were supernatural in terms of what was happening and what was being revealed, but at the same time it underlines the fact that here's a man, a young man, and he's in touch with God, and the Lord is with him, and the Lord is with him by the Word. It's the Word coming to his soul that bears and promotes the great fact that the Lord is with this man. And that, of course, continued right on into his experience. We read in chapter 40 that he's able to interpret the dreams of the butler and the baker. And those were messages from God. Read in chapter 41 the same thing of his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams. And therefore, from all these examples, we can see that the Lord was with Joseph by means of his word. The instances underline, therefore, that this is why the Lord is with his people. It is in and through and by his own word. And therefore, Joseph is having personal communion with the Lord through his word. And we think again about the dreams in chapter 37. We're not given many details. It simply says that Joseph dreamed. Verse 5, Joseph dreamed a dream, the same basically. In verse 9, he dreamed yet another dream. But remember, brethren and sisters, that was a very real thing for Joseph. He remembered what the Lord said to him. He brought it to his brethren. He had heard from God. He had heard a word from the Lord. And I have no doubt that this was a pattern in Joseph's life. just not on these special occasions, but it is the evidence of a man, a young man who was in communion with the Lord. It tells us right away that he knew the Lord. that he was a child of God. We're not told when Joseph was actually saved, but when you're introduced to him in the Bible here, in chapter 37, there's no doubt that he's already saved. And he's communing with the Lord and the Word. You see, it's through the Word that we're brought to know the Lord in the first place. It's through the Word that the Lord is with us from the very beginning of our Christian experience. The Word coming to your heart with power. unveiling to you your need, showing you the gospel, the way of salvation, the personal work of Christ, the great doctrines that are redemptive in nature, our justification, our redemption, our cleansing, our acceptance with God. That's how the Christian life starts. We may not know all the terms, in fact most of us didn't, but at the same time we have the essence of what brought home to our souls by the Holy Spirit. And the word of the Lord impacted our hearts and we came to know God and the Lord was with us because he revealed himself to us through his word. And from that point onwards, then he continues with us. This is Joseph's experience and he's holding communion with the Lord through his word. And if you look carefully at the dreams in chapter 37, while they had to do with him personally in terms of the fact that God was revealing something of the future of Joseph, And all came to pass later on when his brothers came down to Egypt, yet it goes beyond that. Because in those dreams that Joseph had, even in chapter 37, the first one was a dream that was focused on the harvest scene, pointing to the great work that Joseph would do later on, as I said, when the corn would be provided. But it was provided for the nations of the earth. And in that there was a pointer to our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was being revealed in that dream. And then of course the second one in chapter 37 and the verse number 9 and the following words that are there. Where he dreamt of the sun and the moon and the stars making obeisance to him. And the fact there is of Joseph's preeminence. So in one dream there's Joseph's provision. And in the second dream, there's Joseph's preeminence. But the point is, while it did point to Joseph's experiences later on, going away beyond Joseph, Christ is here. Christ, who is the bread of life to the nations of the earth. Christ, who is the preeminent one, who goes from the dungeon to the throne to rule over the nations. See it all in Joseph. And this was divine revelation been given to Joseph, just not about himself, but about his Savior, about the one he loved and the one in whom he trusted. And therefore, he was having communion with the Lord through the word. He was seeing facts about Christ. He was seeing a revelation of the promised Redeemer in certain aspects of his person and his work. And you see right there, The Lord was with Joseph, showing Joseph things about Christ. And when the Lord's with His people, and we're in the Word, as Joseph was, we're going to see the Savior. Because the Savior is the theme of all Scripture. We will see Him in the various aspects of His person, we'll see His work in every fashion, in every way, and therefore this experiential matter of knowing the Lord and having the Lord with us is something that takes place, is explained in terms of the Word of God coming to our hearts. But there's something else. Turn to chapter 41. Look at verse number 38. And what we're going to see here is that the Lord was with Joseph not only through the Word, but by the Holy Spirit. Chapter 41, verse 38. And it says there, and Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Now that's a remarkable statement. It was made in the context of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. So again, he is dealing with the word, the Lord's with him here on this occasion. Also, obviously, and the words in view, and Joseph is telling Pharaoh what his dreams meant, but it led to the observation. I remember the observation by a heathen man, a pagan man, who don't believe that Pharaoh knew the Lord, and yet, he's able to make the observation that here's a man in whom the Holy Ghost is found. That is a remarkable observation. Can we find such a one as this is, a man on whom the Spirit of the Lord is? And clearly, the Lord was with Joseph by the Word, by the Spirit. Those two always go together. The Spirit and the Word working together in his life. When the Lord is with a man, with a lady, with one of his children, this is how it is. It's by the Word, it's by the Spirit. If you'll turn with me to Acts 10.38, Acts 10.38. Notice what we find here, what we can deduce from what we see here. Acts 10.38. And that is, may I say it right away, how like Jesus Christ Joseph actually was. Acts 10.38. It says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Many of these words, for God was with him. For God was with him. How was God with Jesus Christ? He was with him by the Spirit. And there's a reference here to his ministry. If you read the whole passage where Peter is preaching and teaching here in the house of Cornelius, he refers to the word that came from God. through Jesus Christ. Look at verse 36, the word which God sent on to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. Verse 37, that word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. And then on into verse 38 that we've already read. And so the same is true here about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord was with Christ. He had the word. He had the Holy Ghost. And in that sense, Joseph is like the Savior. All those thousands of years before when he lived, he was a Christ-like man. You see, brethren and sisters, here is real likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. When our lives are filled with the Word, and we're living in the Spirit, and we're knowing the working of both in our hearts, Then we are being like the Lord. We are being molded into His image. That is the will of God. That is the purpose of God for His people. Whom He hath foreknown, He hath ordained to be like, or to be conformed to the image of His Son. And this happens as the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. And the Word of God dwells in us richly. And we are changed into His image by that power of the Spirit and the Word working together. Back there in Genesis 41, notice a couple of verses that we want to tie together. Genesis 41, verse number 33. Here was Joseph's advice to Pharaoh. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Now think about what Joseph's doing there. Because if you notice something, he's a most humble man. He doesn't say, look out, this kind of a man, and by the way, Pharaoh, I'm your man. He doesn't say that. He just says, here's the kind of man you need. Then you go down to verse 38. After Joseph has spoken a bit more and told Pharaoh what needs to be done, Pharaoh says, well, here's the man. Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. He took the very words that Joseph had used earlier, and he now applies them to Joseph. You see, the Spirit-filled man, the man who's under the influence and leading of the Spirit and the Word of God, will not have to promote himself. It will be seen by others, even by the unsaved. There's a man with discretion and wisdom. And you take the reference discretion and wisdom. The word discreet signifies ability to understand situations. And the word wisdom or wise signifies the ability to carry out what discretion dictates. The two words are not the same. They're not repetitions one or the other. They have two different meanings. The ability to understand the situation and the ability to carry out what discretion has observed. And so, here's God with Joseph, by the Word and by the Spirit. That is why he was able to help others. Just before I leave this point, I know our time's running away here, He was able to help others understand the word. If you go back to chapter 41, or we're in chapter 41, I look at 12 and 13, where the butler remembers his fault and he thinks of this young Hebrew, verse 12 here of chapter 41, who had interpreted his dream and his companion's dreams. And it says in verse 13, it came to pass as he interpreted to us, so it was. Me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. And so, here's a testimony that Joseph had understanding of the word of God and what was being revealed. Those two men, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, each man had a dream. That's in chapter 40. It's a fascinating chapter. Because the butler's dream was a revelation of the gospel. Because it talks about the vine. Christ is a vine. It talks about the budding and all that takes place and the grapes being crushed to produce the wine. And the king is satisfied. And the butler is restored. But you look at the baker and his dream was a dream about the product of his own hands, the baked meats. A basket on his head and the birds of the air coming down upon the basket and the baked meats. The works of his own hands in contrast with the grapes and the vine and the butler's dream. The works of his own hands were a reminder of man's attempts to please the king. But he perished and the butler lived. One was a message in terms of a savour of life unto life and the other a savour of death unto death. In Genesis 40 you see Christ again because there's Joseph in the dungeon, that was his Gethsemane and Calvary. And he's in the company of two criminals. And one lives and the other dies. And there's Christ in the cross between the two thieves. And the one is saved and the other is lost. And Joseph explained it all. You see, what I was saying there was, he helped this butler. He brought to him the word that he that he needed to hear and he was restored, he was delivered. My dear friend, may I just put it to you this way, you may not be saved, there may be someone here tonight who's not a child of God, but we come to you with the message that Christ saves, that the Lord can deliver you tonight. That's what we want to see happening. We want to help you by pointing you to the Christ of God, that you might be saved. We can say tonight, and we say it with gratitude, every believer can say it, the Lord is with us because he saved us and we want the Lord to be with you. Save you by his grace. And notice as well that Joseph held on to the word that the Lord gave him. The Lord gave him the word and he was with him through the word and by the spirit and Joseph held on to it. And you'll see this in Psalm 105. Verses 17 to 19, they are interesting verses because they give us some details that we don't have in Genesis. Psalm 105, verse 17, it says, he sent a man before them, that was before Jacob and his other sons. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron, We're not actually told that in Genesis. We take it as it is right here. He was put in fetters, he was clamped in irons, and he was kept there. This is Joseph in the dungeon, and it says, until the time that his word came. Then it says, the word of the Lord tried him. And what it means is, the Lord had revealed to Joseph, you see, Someday you'll be on the throne. That was in the first dream or two. You're going to be on the throne. You're going to be ruler of all. But there was a period in between where he was severely tested. And he had to wait for the time when the Lord's word came to pass. And during that time, as we read right here, the word of the Lord tried him. His mind and his soul were hurt under the false accusations that he had thrown against them. And had he not had the Lord's Word to hold on to during those trying days, he would have sunk to rise no more. But you see, there came the time, there came the moment, when the Lord's word was fulfilled and Joseph was brought out of that dungeon and his character was cleared and therefore he held on to the word that the Lord had given him down through all that time. And let me show you this before I leave this point. We're looking here at how the Lord is with him by the word and through the spirit. But do you notice that the Lord was with Joseph by his word and undoubtedly by the Spirit to the very end of his days. Turn to chapter 50. And look at the closing words of Genesis 50. 24 and 25. On into verse 26, but Genesis 50, 24. He's on his deathbed now. He's 110 years old, but he's still taken up with the word of God. The mantle of the prophet is still upon this man, Joseph. And he focuses here on the word. Verse 24, Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, but, or sorry, and God will surely visit you. and bring you out of this land unto the land which you swear to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. And so he died, as it says there, 110 years old. They embalmed him. He was put in a coffin in Egypt. And then away hundreds of years later, the bones of Joseph were carried up out of Egypt into the land of promise. He's living on the word to the end of his days. He says here, I'm dying, but God's work will go on. and God's work will be preserved, and God will visit you, and he'll bring you up out of this land. How did Joseph know that? God had told his great-grandfather, Abraham. Back in Genesis 15, God told Abraham these very things. Your seed will go into a land that's not their own, and they'll be afflicted for 400 years, it says there. And then I'll visit them and bring them out. Now Abraham, for there was no written word in those days, Abraham had passed that down. He had told Isaac, and Isaac had told Jacob, and Jacob had told Joseph. And so Joseph's living on the word. that was not only, I mean all his life, not only directly revealed to him, but he's living on the word that came to him, even passed down from his great-grandfather. And he can take that word in his dying days, and he can tell his brethren here, the word of God is true. I've lived on it. The Lord's been with me by his word. and it will surely come to pass. And so we have the explanation of how the Lord was with Joseph. But then the evidence of the Lord being with this man, this experience of having the Lord with him. And when we think about this, it's true, isn't it, that when the Lord is with a person, it will be demonstrated in various ways. And going back to chapter 39, where our text lies, There are different evidences in that chapter that the Lord was with Joseph. Now he was a prosperous man. There is the first evidence that I see. It says in verse 2, again, the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. Now the two are inseparably linked. The Lord with Joseph and his being a prosperous man. Now that, to my understanding, has to be spiritual prosperity. Because at this stage, Joseph is a slave. He has nothing, materially speaking, financially speaking. He's in a great household, that's right. But all he is in that household is a slave, essentially. Yes, he's promoted by his master, simply because he is a dependable young man. But he doesn't own a penny, we could say. And yet we're told right here the Lord was with him and he was a prosperous man. And I'm saying to you, most definitely that is spiritual prosperity. You see, the sphere of that spiritual prosperity is the inward man, the soul. Joseph was prospering in his soul. You can't have the Lord with you and not prosper that way. No, you might have the Lord with you and not have very much of this world's goods, as we say. You may not be rich or wealthy, you may not have these things that Other people may have, but if the Lord is with someone, that person is going to prosper in his or her soul. There's an inseparable connection between the Lord being with a man and that person prospering and blossoming and developing in the inward sense. You see, the very trials. that Joseph has to go through as we've noted some of them already. Those trials were used by the Lord to promote and develop Joseph's inward life and to progress the sanctifying power of the word within his soul and the work of the Holy Spirit within his soul. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and look with me there at some words that Paul uses that tie in with what we're seeing here. Joseph's a slave, remember. No doubt he would long to be back home. He's a prisoner in that house, and he's going through this time of trial. It's going to get worse later on. But all the while, because the Lord is with him, he's actually prospering inwardly. And so look at 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 and 9, where Paul says, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Just a couple of verses. Here's a man who's going through difficult days, as his words describe. And yet he can say that while they are difficult, he has not been cast down or destroyed. He is not distressed. He's not in despair. Was Paul some kind of a super-Christian? No. Go down to verse 16. Here's the reason why he says what he says in verses 8 and 9. He says, For which cause we faint not? but though our outward man perish." And he's talking there about his body and the state of his physical life. The outward man was perishing and yet he can say, the inward man is renewed day by day. Do you notice that? The outward man, the body, the physical life, weary, tired. Paul writes to Philemon and calls himself Paul the Aged. Not because he was a really, really old man. Because I think we can reckon that when Paul eventually died, he may have only been in his 60s, maybe less than that. But he calls himself Paul the Aged because he was worn out. physical life was worn out but at the same time the inward man was prospering. Every day Paul was being renewed in the inward man and that's what we're seeing here about Joseph. The Lord was with him and therefore he prospered. Inwardly he was he was doing well, he was advancing, He was developing in a spiritual life. There was renewal every day. There was vigor. There was power. He did not faint under his trials. Because the Lord was with him, he prospered spiritually, and therefore he kept on going. You see, whenever we have the Lord with us, this will be an evidence of it. There will be this spiritual prosperity. Even though there's adversity and trial, you'll be like the blessed man in Psalm 1. where it says, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. It's the same word, actually, as is used right here, of Joseph. I think of Gaius in 3 John verse 2 where Paul uses in the New Testament setting the word prospereth. 3 John verse 2 it says, Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. Now the inference is that outwardly he was not in health and outwardly he was not prospering in the physical sense. Paul could say, as he prayed for Gaius, he says, I long that you might be in good health and prosper outwardly, even as your soul is prospering. Think about that, dear folk. Men have always put more emphasis upon the body than upon the soul. But the Bible turns it the other way around. You think of the rich man in Luke 12. He put his body before his soul. He put time before eternity. Don't do that. Because if you do, you'll lose your soul. You need to attend to the inward man. Stop spending so much time and focus on the outward man. because the outward man in his all is perishing, dying. We are dying men and women. The only difference is for the child of God, one day we'll have a new body, this body transformed, a midlife onto His glorious body. And that will be prosperity, the like of which has never been seen in this old world. You can go to all the beauty parlors you like, and do whatever you care to do, but the outward man's still going to perish. He's still going to weather and die. If you can't see the signs, I don't know what you should do. But they are there. They are there, folks. The outward man is perishing. And you who aren't saved, you're giving no attention to your souls. So, He was a prosperous man. The sign of that spiritual prosperity was that, if you look at verse three, it says this, his master saw that the Lord was with Joseph. His master saw that the Lord was with Joseph. That's an amazing statement. How did he see it? Well, he saw it in various ways, of course, He was honest, obviously, most honest young man, so much so that Potiphar put everything under his care. What I want you to see from that is that if we are prospering inwardly, then it will be noticed. If we are growing in the Lord, if our souls are developing spiritually, we're growing in grace and developing in the inward man, It will cause us to be a benefit and a value to this society in which we live. See this tonight, dear believer. What Northern Ireland needs, what the world needs, or any place in the world needs is a company of Christians who are like Joseph. Because even though the world doesn't like to admit it, they will see that people like Joseph are the best citizens that a nation could have, and that the nation will benefit from such people and influence a society valuable to the employer, to the world at large around in so many, many ways. And you can go on to read here in verses four to six, all that happened because Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. There are the benefits of the gospel and godliness and godly men upon even a corrupt society. It's all here. I can't stay with this for time's sake. He was a prosperous man. He was a pure man. The purity that marked this man. The Lord was with him. And remember this, the Lord who was with Joseph is the God of absolute purity. which means that Joseph's life was marked by purity, marked by holiness. The Word and the Spirit working in him, that's how the Lord was with him. And every was pure, pure like the Spirit who dwelt in him, pure like the Lord who was with him, like the Word that had come home to him. And that is seen again from his earliest days, chapter 37, verse 2. He brought to his father the evil report of those brothers. And let me say, and I'll put it to you very plainly, when Joseph brought that evil report, he was not a little snitch telling tales, nor was his report some show of false piety or some display of superficial holiness. Rather, his report was the evidence of a young man who was grieved by sin, because he had purity in his own soul. And that comes out now, doesn't it, in chapter 39 very vividly. And what happened here with regard to the temptation that came against Joseph from Padover's wife, Do you notice that, and that's found from verse seven onwards, do you notice that even though the Lord was with Joseph, that did not mean that he wasn't subject to temptation. Some people think, if the Lord's with me in a certain manner, I'll never be tempted. You couldn't have had the Lord with you any more than he was with Joseph, and yet Joseph was subjected to temptation. Think about the Lord Jesus again. filled with the Spirit without measure, and yet taken into the wilderness by the Holy Ghost to be tempted and assaulted by the devil. What was the purpose of this temptation? It was actually to bring out Joseph's purity. It was to demonstrate that the grace of God, when it's made of a pure young man, that made him all that he was, was able to keep him in that furnace. That's why it was all, that's why it happened. Because it's purity is demonstrated in this as a fiery furnace of temptation by this wicked woman. Notice as well, As we think about his purity and the fact that it's demonstrated in the temptation that came, notice how the devil is able to manipulate the believer's physical situations in his temptation. Look at the close of verse six. And Joseph was a goodly person and well-favored. And verse seven goes on to say immediately, and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph. What are we reading here? Joseph, the end of verse six, he was a goodly person, he was well-favored. Joseph was a very handsome young man. That's what it means. A very handsome, well-made young man. And immediately, the trial comes, the temptation comes. This wicked woman cast, notice what it says, she cast her eyes upon him. He wasn't an ugly duckling, and therefore this wicked woman is filled with lust, because she can see in Joseph his handsomeness, he's well built, etc. And I say to young people here tonight especially, I say it to us all of course, be on your guard, because the flesh is weak. And the devil knows how to take advantage of it. But then Joseph endured this persistent temptation, verses 10 to 12. It came relentlessly, as you read there. But in the face of it all, he proved his purity. And if you look at verse 9, you've got the key to it. The end of the verse. He says certain things in verse 9 that are all true. He says, there's none greater in this house than I. What's he saying there? He's saying I can't betray my master's trust. He has made me the head of this house in terms of being the overseer. Then he says, he hasn't kept back anything from me except you because you're his wife. Then he says this. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Yes, he would have betrayed his master's trust, that trust that he put in Joseph as the overseer. He would have sinned against his master if he had taken his wife. But what Joseph sees more than anything else, I would sin against God. And remember this, the Lord is with Joseph. He's still with him here in the furnace of temptation. And Joseph knows that God's presence is there. And while of course that meant that he was kept, at the same time Joseph was saying to himself, the Lord is right here. How can I put out my hand to take another man's property in the form of his wife. When the Lord's right here with me, I will not do this and sin against the Lord whose presence is all around me and whose nearness is in my life. I will not do it. And there is the purity being demonstrated. A prosperous man, he is a pure man. And if you notice what happened in verse 12, I've always remarked these words. It says, she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and then these words, and got him out. Those are striking words. What was about his coat? He got himself out. Now he was landed in trouble, I know that. But the point is, he got him out. That's what mattered most. even though he had to go to jail for it. He got himself out and he retained his purity and his testimony and he trusted God. But you see, he proved his purity. That's what mattered to him most in that situation. He was a patient man then as well because the rest of the passage reveals his plight He's falsely accused, he's falsely imprisoned, and verse 20 shows him going into the prison. But look at verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord went with Joseph into the prison, showing him mercy and giving him favor with the keeper of the prison. As the story goes on to show, such was the presence of the Lord with this man. As he went into that prison, it gave Joseph the patience that he needed. We touched on this already from Psalm 105. He bore with the iron fetters. He bore with all that he had to endure until the time that the word of the Lord came and the trial was over. And what patience he demonstrated. And you know, men and women, the Lord put Joseph into that prison and gave him that patience because the Lord had a work for Joseph to do there. You read those verses and you'll find that because the Lord was with Joseph, he was given favor, verse 21, in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the prisoner, the keeper of the prison, he now makes Joseph the kind of the overseer of the other prisoners. Verse 23, the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him. There it is a third time. The Lord was with him. And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. He's still prospering in every way. And the Lord's with this man. And I believe firmly that in that prison, Joseph did a work for God. Do you think he would be shut up in that prison and be over all those prisoners and not tell them the truth about the Lord and His Word and the Gospel? Undoubtedly he would have preached and ministered in that prison house because the Lord was with him and patiently he continued on and served the Lord. He was not separated from the love of his God or the presence of his Savior. And in that sense, he became more than a conqueror. I refer there to Romans 8, where Paul talks about all these things that would threaten us and asks the question, shall anything separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes on to say, nay, in all these things, and he doesn't say in all these things we are conquerors, he says in all these things we are more than conquerors. And what he means is all those issues that he mentions, the trials and difficulties, they are turned to the Christian's advantage. The things that threaten us, the trials that come, God uses them in our lives to sanctify us and to draw us closer. And in that sense, we become more than conquerors. Yes, we do conquer. The enemies defeat us. But, brothers and sisters, the very things that He tries to use to destroy us, God takes them and turns them to our advantage. And that's what's going on right here. And you see the patience of this man. as he waits in God, is used of God, and triumphs in such a marvelous way. What was then finally the effect of this experience? Well, the great result, the great effect was that Joseph was enabled to fulfill a glorious role of being the preserver of the entire human race. You see, the famine was over all nations. We're told this in chapter 41, 53 to 54. And if you look especially at verse 56, it says the famine was over all the face of the earth. And I know that the word earth could also be translated land, but look at verse 57. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn. The Lord was with Joseph and Joseph was enabled to so act that the nations of his day were spared and they were fed. And so as a result of having the Lord with him, Joseph impacted the world of his day. So I want you to see it. Do you see the far-reaching effects that can be produced when God is with a man? Here's a man, a man called Joseph. Who is he, anyhow? in himself. What does he have? He comes from a handful of people as far as his family are concerned at that time. A handful of people really, compared with others. And they're really a bunch of nobodies, hated and despised by everybody. But the Lord takes Joseph out of that environment, out of that background, and he's so with him that Joseph impacts his world for God. And I say to you tonight as we come to a close, there's no knowing the results of the Lord being with a man. And church history, of course, is punctuated with examples of that. Let me say to you tonight, as I close, is this not what we need to see in our day again? I know that God can take a group of men and use them, but very, very, very often in His work in this world, God takes a man and He's with that man, and that man can impact the whole world. for Jesus Christ. But wherever we may be, and whatever the Lord may give us to do, may it be our prayer. We come right round to where we started out. The Lord was with Joseph. May it be our prayer, you and I. O Lord, be with me. Wherever I go, whatever I do, be with me. keep me, preserve me, and make me to have an impact upon my day, my neighbors, my family, my church. If every believer here tonight, as part of this congregation, I mean right here in Lisbon, would get before the Lord tonight and say, Oh Lord, fulfill this in my life. Lord be with me. And we all prayed that way and sought for this and entered into the enjoyment of it experientially. What a difference it would make to our entire church life. And then going out from there into the community. The Lord was with Joseph. That's really what revival is, you know. Revival is the Lord coming down to be with His people in a powerful, marvelous way. And may the Lord come, and the Lord be with you all for His own glory.