Our text this evening is taken from Psalm 105. Psalm 105, and you might care to look up that psalm, and to look particularly at verses 17 to 19. This psalm is a recounting to the children of Israel of their history, reminding them of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises. and His wonderful provision for them in their need. And at verse 17 we read, He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. I should have begun at verse 16. Moreover, He called for a famine upon the land, He break the whole staff of bread, 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. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him." And it's particularly those last few words that make you think this evening. The word of the Lord trying Joseph. It's interesting that the Psalms give us insights into aspects of the Scriptures that we don't learn elsewhere. We don't learn from Genesis that Joseph's feet were put in fetters and that he was bound in irons. This we learn only from the psalm. Similarly, when we sang Psalm 22, we know that this psalm is particularly applicable to the Savior. It speaks of the suffering of our Saviour on the cross. It goes on to speak of how they divided His garments among them and so on. So appropriate. And in that psalm we learn something of the inner thoughts of Christ as He suffered for us. We wouldn't have learnt it from the Gospels, we learn it from the psalms. Those who say that why would we sing the psalms, there's nothing of Christ in the psalms, you wonder whether they believe the same God as we believe, don't you? The psalms are so full of Christ. When we look at the life of Joseph, Joseph also is often a type of Christ. But in the text before us, we read that the word of the Lord tried Joseph. What does that mean? What word of the Lord is being referred to? I put it to you that the word of the Lord that tried Joseph was a variety of different words of the Lord, as we shall see. But particularly that word which he received directly in the dreams that he was given. Those dreams Joseph understood to be not mere products of an over-heated brain, He understood that his dreams were not just random thoughts that came into his mind in his sleep. They were rather the Word of God. God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake unto the fathers, we read in Hebrews. And in one of those diverse manners in times past was that God spake in dreams. No longer have God speaking to us in dreams. And any who imagine that God speaks to them in dreams today, need to go back and say that the Scriptures is the only rule of faith and conduct. But in those days before this Word of God was written, God spoke in diverse manners, and among them, dreams. How did Joseph know that those dreams were the Word of God? Well, the Confession of Faith tells us that the authority of Scripture, for which it ought to be received and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God himself, the author thereof, who is truth itself. Therefore, it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. And that's not mysticism. That's the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirits, It tells us that these things are so. It's the same witness that Abraham received when the voice or the word of God came to him to offer up Isaac. How did Abraham know that this wasn't a delusion of Satan? It goes against all natural affections. It goes against natural law that a father should offer up his son. But more than that, in the case of Abraham, as Calvin reminds us, he was offering up the hope of his salvation, because the promise was in Isaac, shall thy seed be called. And what seed is it referring to? It's referring to the seed of the woman who was to bruise the serpent's head. What conviction Abraham must have had. that this was the Word of God. Nothing could sway him from that conviction. So it was that Joseph, not only did God give him dreams, but He gave him the assurance that those dreams were the Word of God. That same assurance Joseph had concerning the Word of God that had come to his forefathers also. It's an interesting exercise to sit down, and I recommend this to the children, to sit down and make a graph of the life spans of the patriarch from Adam to Abraham. And all the data you need is in the Scriptures to do so. And when you do so, you find that only four lives were necessary to convey the Word of God that was given to Adam to Abraham, because Adam's life overlapped with that of Nethuselah. And Nethuselah, of course, was a contemporary of Noah, and Noah was a contemporary, or Noah's son Shem was a contemporary of Abraham. And so the Word of God which was given in those diverse manners and was passed on orally over those many, many years was the only word of God that those men of old had. But they believed it to be the word of God, because it came at the divine assurance that it was so. And in that, and we read there from Hebrews 11, of the faith of those patriarchs. A faith founded on the word of God which God had given them and will give them to their forefathers. So it was that Joseph was tried by the Word of God. And I want to suggest to you that he was tried in at least four ways, and we could imagine perhaps many others. There are four ways in which the Word of God tried him that I want to look at with you this evening. First of all, Joseph had his charity tried by the Word of God. His love for his brethren was tried by the word of God. You see, although Joseph didn't have, as far as we understand from the record in Genesis, he didn't have the commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, in so many words. That law of God was written on his heart He also had examples, and we know from our confession of faith that an example is as binding as a command in Scripture. That's why we celebrate the Sabbath on the first day of the week, because of the example we have in Scripture. And Joseph had examples. He had the example of Abraham, who was prepared to give first preference to what in the settling of the places that they would dwell in when the land became too straight for them. And Abraham, out of love for his nephew, let him take first choice. It had the example also of his father Jacob, who despite Esau's murderous intentions towards him. When he was finally reunited with his brother after 20 years in Haran, Jacob came to his brother with love and meekness and humility, not with boldness or with upstartedness. You see, Jacob, Joseph knew that the will of God was that he should show love and forgiveness towards his brothers. Jacob, of course, Joseph, of course, had been cruelly treated by those brothers. However, all children of the same father that Joseph was the only one at that stage who had Rachel as a mother. And these half-brothers, if you like, united in hatred for Joseph. They hated him for his dreams. They hated him for his conviction that he had the Word of God. And that's not unusual, is it? Jesus said that a man's foes would be those of his own household. When we have the Word of God, when we hold it to be the Word of God, and not just something that we have a preference for, but as the Word of God which is not only binding upon us, but binding upon others, that stirs up wrath. Joseph's brothers had their wrath stirred against him because in proclaiming those dreams as the word of God, it was a message to them as well. And they didn't like it. And that hatred overcame all natural affection and they were willing to persecute their own flesh and blood. They despised Joseph's hope. They said when he came to them a dozen, here comes that dreamer. And they made their plans to apprehend him and to kill him. And they said as they bound him and thrust him into that pit, now we'll see what becomes of these dreams. And in effect they were saying the same thing as what the Psalms records here in Psalm 22. This man did trust in God. Let him deliver him, since he has such demise in him. He knew what it was to be mocked, to be reviled, to be persecuted, for the Word of God's sake. And that Word of God tried Joseph. tried whether he would have a charitable heart, a heart of forgiveness towards those brethren who had so despicably treated him. Well, we find, don't we, that Joseph was an overcomer and that he did indeed entertain a forgiving spirit towards his brothers. He said to them when he first revealed himself to them, If you read in Genesis 45 verses 7 and 8, God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me, hither the God, and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. And he said previously to that I am Joseph your brother whom ye sold into Egypt, now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life." Marvellous, what a forgiving, gracious spirit Joseph showed. The word of the Lord tried him and he was an overcomer. And then at the very end of Genesis, Jacob had him died and the brothers reasoning that it was only while Jacob was alive that Joseph was showing such kindness to them, that now that Jacob, their father, was dead, his true feelings would manifest themselves. And they were terrified at the vengeance that they expected to fall upon them. And Joseph says to them in chapter 50 and in verse 20, As for you, ye thought evil against me, But God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save so much people alive. Magnanimous heart of Joseph. And again we see what a type of Christ he is, and how when the brethren of Christ, the Jews, crucified him, they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. to save much people alive. You see, the secret of Joseph's forgiving spirit was his recognition that there was a sovereign God over all those events in his life, that these things didn't come by chance. And he learned, as one of the divines of old said, to look beyond the rod to the hand that wields it. And he knew that God, in His sovereign providence, had so order to all things, that these things would come to pass for the good of the Church. Do you and I think that way? You know, churches have sometimes family disputes. There are brethren that we have to fellowship with who at times offend us. And we would be fooling ourselves if we said that wasn't so. How do we deal with such disputes? How do we deal with such pressures in a congregation? We have the example of Joseph here, don't we? To have that grace of forbearance, of willingness to forgive, looking at the bigger picture, asking ourselves, what is God's purpose in this for us? We're willing to die to ourselves, as long as Christ is glorified. It's been well said, we're not to stand to our own honour, but we're never to compromise God's honour. We can forego many things when it's only our own rights, but we can never compromise the rights of King Jesus. The Saviour himself showed that by his own example, didn't he? When he would go through Samaria and they opposed him. And the disciples would have fire fall from heaven upon them. The Lord imbued them. But he went another way. Joseph's charity was tried by the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord that says, love your neighbour, love your brethren, The second trial of verses that I'd like us to think about is the trial of contentment. The trial of contentment. You see, Joseph knew what God had said to Jacob, his father, as he met with him at Bethel. Remember, Jacob saw that ladder and the angels of God ascending descending upon it. And God said to Jacob on that occasion, Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. Joseph understood that word to his father to be a covenant word. Jacob was Israel. Israel is the church. And Joseph was a part of the church. And if God promised the church that he would never leave them nor forsake them, wherever they went, in whatever circumstances they found themselves, then that applies to him as well. And though he was so cruelly snatched from his father's home and sent into this pagan foreign land, God had not desisted him. God was with him. That was the word of the Lord that tried Jesus in those circumstances. Would he be content, like Paul and Silas in the prison, praying and singing praises to God? not letting outward circumstances dictate how they would feel. And I believe that we have ample evidence that Joseph was an overcomer in this tribe also. You see, we should not overlook the status of the one who purchased Joseph to be his servant. Potiphar. What was Potiphar? Captain of Pharaoh's Guard. He was a man of very high importance in Egyptian society. He was not just some middle income earner. He was a man of significance. Why do I make a point of that? Because he could buy the best clothes. he wouldn't be straightened as to how much he could cut. And why do I think Joseph was commanded to do twice? Not only because he was young and healthy, but because Joseph had the bearings of intelligence and of self-control and of a sense of not being cast down or despondent by his circumstances. You see, if Joseph had come down to Egypt bemoaning his loss, feeling sorry for himself, cursing his brothers, being absolutely depressed, imagine what sort of display he would have made in that slave market with all those others. Potiphar would have had one look at him and passed on to the next person. You see, there was an intelligence and a glimpse and an inner joy about Joseph which made him attractive to Potiphar as someone he couldn't just ignore. He was a young man with potential. And he was not disappointed in his choice. Because Joseph, you see, was content that he's not. He had learned with the Apostle, in whatever condition he was in, to be content and to rejoice in his God. And how that contentment was tried. It was tried by the circumstances that brought him to Egypt. It was tried by the awful behaviour of Poppet's wife which plunged him into prison. It was tried by the forgetfulness of the butler. But Joseph remained contented. Is that how you and I respond to the difficult circumstances we meet in life? We're now out with circumstances seem to go clean contrary to the promises of God. Isn't that how often we are tried in our Christian life? When the promise and providence seem to be at odds with one another? This is where the preachers of the prosperity doctrine have got nothing to offer. What happens if you believe in Christian prosperity when things go wrong? You've got no anchor. Joseph wasn't like that. Joseph believed the Word of God regardless of the circumstances. You and I are quoted in the same way. We are called to believe the Word of God even though providence seems to blow contrary to the course that the promise has set for us. Then there is the trial of Joseph's virtue. The Word of God tried Joseph's virtue, his purity. We read that chapter Chapter 39. I want you to think just how great a trial this was for Joseph, and Potiphar's wife solicited him in the way she did. First of all, Joseph had the Word of God concerning marriage. He had it in the sense that he knew that in the beginning of the world, God had brought Eve to Adam. and said that no man was to put this union asunder. Joseph knew that. He was well instructed from his childhood in those truths by his father. He also had the example of his God in four days. Now it's true that Abraham and Jacob had concubines. But there was nevertheless the understanding that marriage was God's institution. The rights of the children of those unions demonstrated that. Joseph was well instructed in God's will concerning marriage. Well, think of the trial that Joseph was subjected to as to this Word of God concerning marriage. First of all, he was taken into Egypt. Now, the Egypt of Joseph's day is like, well, I would have once said you wouldn't find a society like that in Northern Ireland. But I believe that that's no longer the case. Certainly in my country it is the norm for couples to be together without being married. Chastity is unusual. It is the norm for adultery to be practised among married couples. It's nothing unusual. The only crime, it seems in our day, is to be called out by the media, especially if you are an entertainer or someone in the public eye. That was the type of society that Joseph was brought to. There would be no one who would criticise him for doing what Potiphar's wife suggested. as long as he didn't get caught. What restraint was on Joseph? His father was out of reach, likely never to see him again, according to the flesh. He had no godly constraints upon him whatsoever, outside of those that the Word of God put upon him. We should say, shouldn't we, what a blessing it is to have godly people around us who do exercise and help to keep us from giving full reign to the natural man within us. Even when we are Christians, we have to watch ourselves, don't we? And how we ought to thank God for godly companions who help us. But Joseph had none of that. And you think also of the nature of the temptation. It wasn't just once that Positner's wife put this proposition to Joseph. All of us, no doubt, have been surprised by some unusual temptation and been shocked by it and recoiled from it. But the real trial of Joseph's virtue lay in those words that we read then. day by day. It was the constant flip, you know, the constant flip that so often wears away the stone. To stand firm at the first thrust is good, but not unusual. But to continue firm day by day That's the real trial of Justice Ferguson. And he held, he was an overcomer. And you know, he could so easily have argued, well, or reasoned this way, that perhaps in the providence of God, staying in favour with Potiphar's wife would be a way for him to rise out of this condition of slavery, she would have influence at court. Maybe this was God's way of helping him to achieve what those dreams promised. Sadly, Abraham had fallen for that reason, hadn't he, in the case of Hagar? Sarah suggested this to him. The promise would be achieved by a carnal means. But Joseph overcame in this trial of chastity and purity. He was not one of those who adopt the pragmatic philosophy of let us do evil if good might come of it. He was a man of principle. And you and I are called to stand as Joseph stood in the same type of day that Joseph lived in. Increasingly, that is, there is a call from the Word of God for us to stand for purity and chastity. I say that especially for young people, where the argument is, well, everyone else is doing it, which is a lie, but that's the devil's reasoning, isn't it? to stand upon principle. A trial of virtue. And finally, I want to speak to you of the trial of Joseph's hope. Joseph, as we saw at the beginning, had this divine promise, a word of God that had come to him. that he would have his brethren and his parents bow down to him. And he knew that wasn't just for his self-adulation or just for his ego that this was to happen. He knew that this was promised of God for the good of the church. And yet, as we said before, All the providences that had come upon Joseph ever since he'd received that promise seemed to be completely contrary to what the promise gave. Snatched from his godly parents, taken down to this ungodly place. Then, for a while, things seemed to be looking up. Potiphar was entrusting him with more and more. His prospects were looking good, until the episode with Potiphar's wife. And then whatever hopes may have been, carnal hopes may have been raised were dashed once more, thrown into prison. Maybe it was then that he was bound with fetters and iron. I want you to think for a moment of the time span we're talking about here. Joseph was 17 when he was summoned to Egypt. He was 30 when he was brought out of prison and stood before Pharaoh. Thirteen years the word of the Lord tried him in this matter, in that promise. Thirteen years. And perhaps It would not be an exaggeration to say that 12 of those years were spent in prison. I can't imagine Potiphar's wife taking too long to get up to her trees. Perhaps 12 years languishing in that Egyptian dungeon. The word of the Lord shining all that time. Would he believe the promise? No doubt there were days when he felt deserted of God. He was flesh and blood. But the scriptures take notice, don't they, of the triumph of faith. You know, we read of so many of those in the great catalogue of faith in Hebrews 11, and among them is Rahab, the harlot. And, you know, you wonder why she's there. And you see that she, in her weakness, she deceives, pretending that the spies were not with her. And the Scriptures don't give us any grounds for justifying deception or lying. But the Scriptures takes notice of her faith, not her frailty. And so with Joseph, 12 years perhaps, languishing in prison, the Scripture takes notice of the triumph of his faith, whatever days of despondency he might have had then. and child of God, don't think that because sometimes you do get under and you do get depressed, that that means you haven't got any grace. It's what happens in the end, isn't it? Is it that you stay down or do you finally recover? Does the grace of God lift you up again? Joseph was there, 12 years, perhaps, in prison. There comes a time when the butler and the baker are introduced to the prison with him. And his hopes are raised once more as the butler is released according to Joseph's interpretation of his dream. Surely the butler will put in a good word for me. Two more years. Two full years. pass in dreary monotony, and it seems that he's going to be left to rot in that prison. How the word of the Lord tried him. How the word of the Lord tried him. What I want to ask you, how do you relate to the promises of God when things seem to go against you, when the trial seems to go so long. There are some people, like John Bunyan for instance, who seem to be tossed in the Satan's sieve for a long time before they can finally have comfort and assurance of salvation. And they know the promises of God, but it seems they don't apply to them. And the devil likes to fan that fire, doesn't he? That fire of despair, despondency. Promises of God, they don't apply to me. I may not be one of God's elect. That's a common argument that people sometimes stumble over. You see, you and I have to do with the promises of God, not with His secret will. The secret things belong to God. The things that are revealed belong to us and to our children. We're to deal with the promises, and to hope in those promises, and to keep hoping, and to keep praying, and to keep believing, and not being discouraged by the way things seem to be going with us. You know, the scripture says, the Lord taketh pleasure in them that hope in his mercy. What a wonderful promise is that. Do you hope in his mercy? The sky seems so dark. The pit in which you are sunk seems so deep. What does the psalmist say? He took me from my pit and set my feet upon a rock, establishing my way. There's one other promise I want us to think about as we close. You know, like Joseph, we look about us at the Western world and we see the church as if it's in fetters and bounding irons. We see the Church no longer glorious and going forth as an army mighty with banners, with the world trembling before it. But instead we see the influence of the Church on the world becoming less and less, and the faithful becoming fewer and fewer, to a sense that they've got a little remnant left. And they're like Joseph in prison. The church seems to be in prison. And their prospects look so bleak to the eye of flesh, to the eye of sense, don't they? But you know, we have some glorious promises. Some glorious promises. And I'd like to conclude by just referring you to two. If you'd like to turn it with a Psalm 67, Psalm 67. The most beautiful psalm, and this is the word of the Lord if you like it, is trying a church in a day like ours, in a day of small things. A day of small things. God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving help among all nations. Let the people praise Thee, O Lord, O let the people praise Thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For Thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth, Selah. Let the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase. And God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." That's a promise. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. It may not look like that. It may look completely different to that as we look about us. Just as Joseph looked about those prison walls. How could the word of God be fulfilled? How could the promise ever come to pass? The Word of the Lord tries Joseph. The Word of the Lord tries you and I. Do we look at appearances, or do we judge righteous judgment? Look at the promise. Turn to Psalm 72. Psalm 72, verse 8, speaking of The great king, verse 7, in his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. Verse 16, there shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains, The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth." A small thing, a hand of corn on the top of the mountains. Hardly noticeable. Seemingly insignificant. But what does it become? Shaking like the trees of Lebanon. It's the grass that covers the earth. I think that's a wonderful illusion in this country, where you look about you and you see green grass everywhere. We don't see that in Australia. It's not speaking of stalks of grass, it's speaking of souls brought into the Kingdom of God. The earth yielding her in Christ, to His praise and to His glory. Until the time that these words come in, That is, until the time of promise of life, the Word of the Lord tried Joseph, and it tries you and I in exactly the same way. Amen.