Our scripture text today for reading and for preaching, Genesis chapter 39. Hear now the word of the Lord. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, and 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 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 all 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 watcheth 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 hearkened 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, why 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 unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came 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. Amen. So for the reading of God's word, you may be seated. Tonight we come in our exposition, in our brief mini-series through part of Genesis to chapter 39. Genesis 39. And as we saw in chapter 37, as we began to see there, this section to the end of the book is one long narrative unit, basically telling one long story about Joseph and also about Judah, as we saw in more depth last week. Well, back in chapter 39, the story goes back now to Joseph, and so to speak, he is the main character, and he will be for a few chapters after this. So the title of our sermon tonight is Joseph's Glorious Fall. So we see in this text, really, this fall that Joseph has, Joseph's fall from favor. And as we look through this, again, we're going to see this note things in terms of points of exposition, then of doctrine, and thirdly, of application. So in terms of exposition, how can we divide up this text which is about Joseph's fall from favor? Well, we see Joseph's favor and then also Joseph's fall. Joseph's favor in Genesis 39 verses one through the beginning of verse six. And we see, first of all, kind of this introduction, a setting of the stage in the very first verse of chapter 39. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of the pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And if you've been paying attention, if you remember how chapter 37 ended, this is almost repeating that verse, the end of chapter 37. It says, And the Midianites sold him unto Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaohs, and captain of the guard. So basically, Moses here, as he's writing this text, of course being divinely inspired, is tying us right back or picking right back up where he left off at the end of chapter 37. So all this happened with Judah in chapter 38 that may have lasted decades and years and years, a very long time. Now we're going back in time and we're going to take things more slowly through the perspective of Joseph. Now I want you to note that the word hand, the word hands that you see in chapter 39 says in verse 1 that they bought him off the hands of the Ishmaelites. And I believe in this narrative that the word hand is an image that is used, it occurs again and again, an image that is used to represent power. represents power. So at least in verse 1, from the hands of the Ishmaelites, Joseph was underneath their power. And we're going to see kind of literarily through this chapter how this word keeps reoccurring. And I will note there are some translations that do not consistently translate this word as hand throughout the chapter, but they will add other nuances to it. Like in verse 4, you might have a translation that translates that word as authority, but I'll try to bring these things out for you. And so, they bought him from the hands of the Ishmaelites. And note here his lowly estate. He has been brought down very low as an Egyptian slave. So we go from this introduction, this setting of the stage, now in verses two to three, to favor from God. Joseph receives favor from God, and that is so exceedingly clear in verses two and three. And as we read those verses as well, we see this, that Potiphar notices this. It says that his masters saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And so then this Egyptian, this pagan man, gets a knowledge of the true God through this slave that he has just purchased and taken into his home. We see the word hand resurface in verse 3 here. It says, the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. Joseph is exercising some kind of power. He has some kind of sway, of prominence here within Potiphar's house, even in this section. And then we see it even more. So in verses 2 to 3, we see that Joseph has favor from God. And in verses 4 through 6, we see his favor from Potiphar. So we see how Potiphar notices this and how he exalts Joseph. In verse four, the word hand is used again when it says, and let's see, and he made him overseer over his house and all that he had put into his hand. So again, we see Joseph, even in this humiliating condition, has some level of favor, of power, of authority here. This reminds me as well of Genesis chapter 12, where God tells Abraham that I will bless those that bless thee and curse those that curse thee. And what do we see here in this text? We see that the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. We see that in verse eight. And we also see that the text says that the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. So this man, this pagan man Potiphar, who is treating Joseph in this way, apparently he's giving Joseph, even though he is a slave, some kind of prominent position and power within his house structure. And the Egyptian, Potiphar himself, is blessed. So even in a text like that, we see God's faithfulness and covenant blessing that he gave to Abraham. Reminds me of Psalm 1, which gives this description of the godly man, of the blessed man. The man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or take his seat among sinners. He does not stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. It says that the Lord makes all that he does to prosper. And here, God is making all that Joseph does to prosper. And so much so, so successful was Joseph, so good at managing Potiphar's affairs. If you look at the text, it says something like, in verse six, that the only decision, the only thing that Potiphar was worried about in his house was what he had to eat. Whether he wanted to choose, I don't know, steak or lamb or venison or whatever food he wanted, that was his decision. And so we see Joseph's prominence and favor from Potiphar. And as we go through this section, this brief section on Joseph's favor, let us not miss the fact that the promise of God to Joseph in Genesis 37 continues. And so as we're reading this passage, that promise of Joseph's rise to power and of people like his father and his brothers coming and bowing down before him, that's still in view and that promise will not be revoked. And so maybe if you're reading this text for the very first time, you come to these verses and you wonder, maybe it's here. Maybe this is the time when Joseph's promise is going to be fulfilled. You see him rising to some kind of level of prominence and of power within this man who is himself very powerful. He was the captain of Pharaoh's guard. And Joseph, so to speak, is number one in his house. Well, that's not going to be the case, of course. God has something bigger in mind. He has something greater in mind than this. And actually what we see here in these few verses about Joseph's favor appears like a microcosm, a small picture captured in miniature of the favor he would enjoy later that would fulfill the Genesis 37 promise. So here he is second under Potiphar who is chief of this house and later he would be second over Pharaoh, king of the nation of Egypt and in both cases he is prospering greatly. But then Joseph's favor suddenly takes a turn into Joseph's fall. We see this at the end of verse 6, I believe, where it says, and Joseph was a goodly person, or he was attractive in form and appearance, all the way to the end of the chapter. And we can see this in two main ideas here, the first of them being temptation. So we have Joseph's temptation that's presented to him, which is the occasion of the fall, here at the end of verse 6 to verse 18. And so then we go through the text and we see the temptation itself. So we're just gonna kind of walk through this and skip some verses about Joseph's resistance and come back to that. As for the temptation itself, you see at the end of verse six and in verse seven, you see it in verse 10, verses 11, the beginning of verse 12. So how does it start? The end of verse six, Potiphar's wife notices Joseph's physical attractiveness. That's what the end of verse 6 tells us. And I want you to note how similar this is to the way his mother was described. And who was Joseph's mother but the woman of incredible repute for her beauty in scripture, Rachel. And actually these two words that you might see in your Bibles that describe Joseph's appearance of form and appearance are used also of Rachel in Genesis 29. One of them perhaps naturally being in feminine form just to describe Rachel, but we have these basically these exact two words. And so it's almost as if the text is telling us that he looks like his mother. He's an attractive person. And if you think back even further, why would he not be attractive? If you consider in his ancestry, his mother is Rachel, his grandmother is Rebecca. Scripture also tells us that she was beautiful. His great-grandmother was Sarah. And so as you look at Abraham's line, it is being enriched, so to speak, if you'll indulge me here, with these beautiful genes, one after another after another. Now you have Joseph, obviously an attractive man, and also as a slave, you can imagine, and as a diligent, hard-working slave, he would have taken care of his body. You can understand why Dewitt say that he would be attractive in form and appearance, with these two words, from what I can gather, being in reference to his personal physique, his figure, if you will, and also to the appearance of his face. He's probably a muscular man, at least that's what I imagine. But I want you to know that this blessing of attractiveness that he has, and today we talked a little bit about how physical attractiveness is a blessing. It is a limited one, a temporary one. but a blessing nonetheless. This physical, temporary blessing of attractiveness, in this case, the blessing works against him. And we can draw a comparison that we might, a comparison with this that we might recognize very well with that of wealth. So wealth is a physical blessing. However, it can, just like being rich, can be an occasion for other people to covet your wealth. And it can also be an occasion for you to sin with your wealth, so with physical attractiveness. Physical attractiveness, other people can be tempted wrongly to lust after you as Potiphar's wife does here. And also, it's a terrible occasion at times for you to abuse that own attractiveness that you have. And so this is what we see with Joseph, his physical attractiveness being the occasion of his fall. And notice the temptress who is Potiphar's wife. Is she named during this text? Do we know what her name is? She plays such an important role. Scripture does not even tell us her name. Which actually reminds me of chapter 38, Judah's wife. Also an important person in that chapter. She's not even named. We don't know what her name was. And here we don't see the name of Potiphar's wife. And maybe she's called Potiphar's wife. because the text is emphasizing that she belongs to him. She should not be giving herself away to anyone else as if she was her own, so to speak, independent person able to do that. She is married and she owes this kind of love to her husband only. If you look at verse 7, I think you might see a language of lust that we saw in Genesis 38 with Judah, actually. And last week when I was expositing Genesis 38, I mentioned how you have this pattern of these two words that happen together in the Old Testament that suggest to us lust. He saw and he took. And now we see with Potiphar's wife that she casts her eyes upon Joseph. She saw him and now she wants to have him. Obviously she is lusting. And then she gives her temptation with his, which is breathtakingly direct. There is no innuendo that slides down into this temptation. There is no period of flirting, so to speak, that we see in this text. But immediately, she presents the blatant temptation in the words, lie with me. This sounds like a command to you, does it not? Is she asking him for a favor? Is this a request? And you can just imagine if Joseph is a slave in this house, he is used to receiving commands from Potiphar's wife and then obeying what Potiphar's wife commands him to do as a diligent and faithful slave in the place that God had called him for that time. But now he receives a command that he cannot obey. As you will see, this would be a great wickedness and sin against God. Verse 10 tells us that this temptation did not happen just one time. It happened over a period of time. And notice how he never once gave in during this period of time. It could be one thing to face a temptation, a great temptation one time, and to rebuff that temptation and not fall into sin. But it's another thing, for that temptation to come to you again, and again, and again, and again, over and over. And then for you not to be beat down with that temptation which continually comes upon you and eventually give in. But Joseph, Joseph here is righteous. And then we have the final scene of temptation. And we see here in this scene of temptation that there are no men present in the house. That Joseph walks in, I think that the text says, he walks in here from the field and there's no one here. And one preacher at least suggested that it could be that Potiphar's wife had arranged for this to happen. Because, and this makes sense to me, I can't preach this dogmatically, but perhaps you have Potiphar's wife that makes sure everyone else is gone. So it just so happens, if you will, Joseph walks in and boom, they're alone together. Joseph was not accustomed to doing this. As we read through Genesis 39, it says in verse 11 that he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he So Joseph, though, he finds himself in this situation, perhaps arranged by Potiphar's wife himself, where the two of them are now alone. Joseph enters the house, everyone else is gone. And there are different interpretations of Joseph here, and perhaps you've heard the interpretation that he is being unwise, that he is being naive by being alone with this woman. But I don't think we have enough in the text that actually tells us that. I don't think that the text tells us enough for us to know that he's being unwise, and we've already seen. He comes in from the house and this is the way that things are. And if Potiphar's wife did indeed send everyone else out, all the other men, then how would Joseph have known that he would find himself in this position? And of course we know that it was his habit not to be with her. Like he was avoiding being around this woman who is this temptress. So I think I have a very different view of Joseph. I see him very highly, even in this scene. And also Joseph belonged in this house. He was the lord of the house, if you will, underneath Potiphar. So then this final temptation now becomes intensified when it's not just she and him alone, but now she grabs him, which raises us to another level of harassment. And you can just imagine the intensity of a temptation like this. You can imagine a man as prominent as Potiphar. If he has a wife, she's going to be a beautiful, attractive woman. Perhaps that's very likely. And think about what Joseph would have to lose in earthly terms if he gives in to this temptation. Maybe nothing. Maybe nothing at all if he just gave in and gave Potiphar's wife what she was looking for. Now think about this question, though. What would Joseph have to gain if he gives in to this temptation? And the answer is, a lot. First of all, he would not, I believe, have lost his prominent position in Potiphar's house. He would not have been sent to prison. He would have at least been able to keep this position And one preacher suggested something even more, that what Potiphar's wife, as his superior, married to the man who is his master, is now paying this slave compliments. She's giving him favors, and perhaps attached to this relationship which she desires would be an even greater elevation into prominence, to an even greater position, whatever that might be, even greater favors. So, if that's true, then Joseph is resisting a temptation on numerous levels. So then we see the temptation itself, and then we see Joseph's resistance. In verses 8-9 and at the end of verse 12. And so, Joseph says in verse eight and nine, he has these lines in which he is responding to her. And he talks about how his master doesn't know what is with him in the house, and he has committed all that he has into his hand. No one is greater in the house than I. He has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. And so, of course, one of the reasons why Joseph can resist this temptation is because it would be a sin against Potiphar. And he knows that. And I want you to notice here how Joseph, even after losing his privileged status with his father as this favored son, of course his father would have had wealth, he had an entire nation, all this land that was promised to him. And Joseph appears to lose all this status and falls into this position as a slave. But even though that happens, and Joseph doesn't know how God's dreams to him are going to be fulfilled, he is thankful for what God has done in his life. even as a slave. I think that's a helpful thing for us to notice and even for us to emulate. So Joseph resists because of Potiphar, I think, but we know he resists because it would be sin against God. And so we have this fantastic statement in the end of verse 9, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? God. He will not sin against God. And what Joseph says here reminds us of what David says in Psalm 51. Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. When David did succumb to a temptation, a temptation of a very different nature, but he did fall into it. And he doesn't say that I have sinned against Uriah. that there would have been truth there. He says that he has sinned against God. That's he's the ultimate object of our sin. So with this great statement from Joseph and what wonderful faithfulness this is in a foreign land away from all of God's covenant people. He might be the only believer that's in the entire nation at this point. And still he maintains this faithfulness, this loyalty and devotion to God. And in this case, he will not sin against God. And for us who have far more light than Joseph did, who have the entire scripture, who are surrounded by churches and who know many Christians as friends, How much less excuse would there be for us to do such a great evil and to sin against God? I think there's a neat contrast to Judah in the chapter before, where if you look at what Judah's temptation is and how he falls, there's a stark contrast. So what does it take for Judah to fall? Let's look at that temptation. His daughter-in-law dresses up like a prostitute. She sits on the way that he's gonna go, and boom, he falls. And Joseph does not fall, even though the temptation is far more fierce and it's ongoing. And also consider what's at stake. What does Judah have to gain from falling into the sin, except humanly speaking, just a few moments of pleasure? What does he have to lose though? He gives up his precious items like his cord, his signet ring, and his staff. These things he just gives away. And we also spoke about Joseph's, about Judah's possible inheritance at this point that he is giving away. I think the text signifies to us there, as we said, that he forfeits it and then it comes back because God works in his life. It's God who is to be credited with there. So we see what is at stake for Judah. What's at stake for Joseph? Well, it's totally the opposite. Judah stands to lose so much by giving in to the sin. And Joseph stands to lose so much by prevailing over the temptation. And that's not usually the way temptation comes to us. Usually it comes to us in that if we give into it, it will cost us, and sometimes cost us dearly. But what Joseph does, and it's certainly, it is one thing to prevail over a temptation when you know that the sin would hurt you. But it's another thing to prevail over a temptation to do what's right, even when it ends up doing you some personal harm. Joseph suffers much personal harm for this. I want you to notice in this final temptation, this last climactic moment, Joseph is now, he's not discussing with her. There's no explaining. There's no dialogue. There's no struggling with sin, kind of entertaining or trying to rationalize things as she is grabbing his cloak. He is now, there's no being close to the sin for Joseph. He's gone. He is. Gone. And so you have this great image of Joseph's coat that is left in her hand. And this is an iconic image, if you will. And if I were to ask you what you think of when you think of resisting temptation and successfully prevailing over temptation, you might have this image in your mind. And you can just imagine her standing there with Joseph's coat in her hand. You see Joseph off in the distance. And, you know, dust is just in the path as he is just taken off. And it's a great glorious picture of God's work in him as he prevails over such temptation. And we rejoice with Joseph and we cheer him at this point. So this is an iconic image. It's also an ironic image. Because why? Because this image, this picture is now being used for the opposite purpose, this purpose of deceit about him. So we have noted through this story in Genesis, even going back to the first sermon on chapter 37, the imagery of the coat. So, with the coat, we have Jacob, we have Isaac who's being deceived by his son, Jacob, into getting the blessing. Jacob is deceived with Joseph's coat. And now, Joseph's new coat is also being used for deception. Though not for him to be deceived, but to deceive others. And before we go on from this part of the text, notice where her coat lies. Her hand. It's as if Moses is now saying to us, he's suggesting to us. that Joseph, his life, is within her hands, under her power and control. And she is going to do to him whatever she can. That's exactly what we see. So we move from Joseph's resistance now to the false accusation, verses 13 through 18. And so this woman, this wicked woman, twists the truth around. So the truth is that she was the one that was harassing him. But she was accusing him now of harassing her. And his coat that was left in her hands was a symbol of his purity. But she turns it around in a lie to say that the coat is a symbol of him being a predator. In verse 14, I want you to see how it appears she's using a psychological tactic. This is what she says to the men of the house when she calls them. She says, see he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. So she's talking to these men who I presume are other slaves that are within the house. And she talks about her husband in the third person. And it's as if she is aligning herself with these slaves that she's now talking to against her husband, against Joseph's master. I think that we see that in verse 14, her aligning herself now with her slaves. It's a psychological tactic, perhaps. But it's also true that she appears to spite her husband. We see this in verse 17. So she was accusing Potiphar behind his back to his slaves, I believe, in 14. And in 17, we see her blatantly accusing Potiphar to his face. The Hebrew servant which thou brought unto us came unto me to mock me. So this is a sinful woman, to say the least, in multiple levels. Certainly not respectful and faithful to her husband. So we see the temptation and then the fall itself. And here we come to the end of the text, verses 19 to 23. We see, first of all, Potiphar's imprisonment. Imprisonment, Joseph suffers from Potiphar, verses 19 through 20. And at this point, Joseph's trajectory, the narrative arc of his life, takes another steep turn downward. He had experienced this major success and maybe he was hopeful that it was through this means that he would enjoy the promise of Genesis 37. That's not what happens. It takes another steep step downward and not an easy one. He suffered and we know this from one of the Psalms. So Psalm 105 gives us a window into Joseph here. Psalm 105 verse 18. They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Joseph wasn't just laid in a prison casually. He did suffer there. And we notice Potiphar's anger. But the text doesn't tell us a lot about Potiphar. It doesn't tell us what he was angry about. Was he angry at Joseph? That might seem to be the reading that jumps off the page, but if you think about it, wouldn't Potiphar have known Joseph's character super well? He had already entrusted Joseph with everything in his house except for his wife. He trusted Joseph. And no doubt Potiphar would have known the character of his wife as well. And so you can just imagine as he's in this situation. Him having a hard time believing his wife's story, and also believing Joseph's story, if Joseph gets to present his own case. So with Potiphar, perhaps he's angry at the situation. His wonderful favorite slave, this magic luck charm, that's the way that he saw him, he now has to go. Maybe he's angry at his wife, but whatever the case here, Potiphar is angry. We also see he's put into the king's prison. And it's not a desirable place to be, no prison is, but it seems to me that it doesn't match the accusation of the crime, the level of it. I've heard preachers say that attempted rape in ancient Egypt would have earned you the death penalty. I don't know that the history behind that to be able to say whether that's right or wrong. Maybe that's true, but the fact that he's placed here in the king's prison, the way that it's talked about seems to be Potiphar treating him about as well as he can by placing him here. So Potiphar's imprisonment, and then the Lord's favor, the last three verses of the text. The text does not end there. It does not end on a dismal note. What are the very first words of verse 21? But the Lord was with Joseph. And what comforting words these are. It reminds me of Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3, which talk about our natural depravity and being under God's wrath. The text doesn't end in Ephesians 2 verse 3. Verse 4 says, but God. And here we have Joseph's predicament, and the text does not end with Joseph's predicament, but continues, but the Lord was with Joseph. And of course, we know that this promise of Genesis 37 is going to continue to Joseph, that there will be a way, somehow, someway, even through prison, that the Lord is going to fulfill this great promise to elevate him. So here we see, even in one of Joseph's darkest hours, that he is prospering by the Lord. And we even see this curious word hand resurface in verse 23. It says, 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. So again, it appears to me like Joseph is now exercising some kind of privilege, some kind of power, even in prison. And the similarity with verse 3, as it talks about Joseph's rise to power within Potiphar's house, with verse 23, his kind of rise to some kind of prominence here, even in the jail, is striking. The Lord is doing here something very similar with Joseph. And so now we've been through this text and we've seen Joseph's fall from favor, his glorious fall, as he first acquires favor in Potiphar's house with God prospering him. And then we see as well his fall into prison. And this is a place where God is still blessing him. And we know that it is through God's blessing to Joseph in prison that God will bring him to where he needs to be. Not a Pharaoh before Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard, but before Pharaoh himself in order to save many lives. including the lives of his family, his family from whom the whole nation of Israel would come, and from whom the church, by extension, would come, and the life as well of Judah, through whom the promised Christ would come. God has Joseph here right where he needs him to be. The Lord's blessing is all over his life. Why is this text here, chapter 39? Well, we have seen it's here to save Israel and Judah. It's part of God's design in this case. It's also here to teach us lessons. And that's because as we read through Scripture, we have examples of godly men who do things that are right when Scripture commends. And we are called to follow in their example. We don't want to merely moralize and merely look at Old Testament stories from this lens to do good and not to do bad, but there's something there. And scripture teaches in 1 Corinthians 10 when it talks about the sins of the people in the wilderness. It says, this happened to them as an example so that you will not commit the sin. And positively here, I believe we see Joseph's righteousness as an example for us to look to, to imitate. And also we see the Lord's faithfulness to Joseph is good faithfulness. And we see Joseph who is here as a type of Christ. That leads us now into our section of doctrine, the things that we can learn from this text. And as we have done in the previous two weeks, let us look at the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, let us look at Christ's sinlessness. So we know that Christ was without sin. He committed no sin. There was no deceit that was found in his mouth. And Christ was sinless, not only in his life, but also in every temptation. And you think of how he was tempted into the wilderness and emerged from that temptation victorious, prevailing over these temptations that Satan suggested to him. And as you're reading a scripture text like Genesis 39, as you're reading about Joseph, perhaps as you're reading about a man like Daniel, you'll see how these men are depicted in such glowing terms. And why is that? Scripture is careful to record evil, heinous sins on the part of other godly men. But here, with Joseph and Daniel, met men like these. As one preacher suggested, perhaps God is using these men to showcase something about the Lord Jesus Christ. to give an indication that when he comes, he will truly and actually, not just in what's recorded about him, but in his everyday life, be sinless. And how does Christ respond to temptation? There is no deliberating. There is no inching close to temptation. There is no entertaining the thoughts. He retorts to Satan directly. He rebuffs him with the word of God. What I see here in Joseph, he speaks directly to Potiphar's wife. He will have nothing to do with the sin. He shows something about Christ's sinless character. And I can't help but think, as you contrast Judah with Joseph, and how one fell into sin when he really shouldn't have, when it would gain him nothing, it would only do significant harm. And how one prevailed over temptation, even though he prevailed over temptation to his great harm. Think about the contrast between Adam and Christ. How Adam had all of his needs in the garden. He was comfortable. He didn't need to eat of the fruit. like he did anyway. And he did so to his great harm. And about how Christ was in a very different setting. Christ was in a wilderness when he was tested. And he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And certainly he was hungry. The text says he was hungry. He did not give in to the sin of the temptation that would have been oh so strong. But Christ prevailed. So we can note Christ's sinlessness. And related to that, secondly, let's think about Christ's impeccability. It's a bigger theological word, and it simply means he was unable to sin. So it's one thing, it's true doctrine to say that Christ committed no sin, but it's even more, and this is also true and good, to say that he was unable to commit sin. He could not do wrong. I have some material here, probably won't get through all of it. There's probably not time for this, and some of it's a little bit high level about Christology, but I'll get into this a little bit. So, there is a teaching that is out there that denies Christ's impeccability, and that says that he could have done sin. He didn't, but he had the ability. That actually could have happened. And believe it or not, this false teaching exists and has existed for some time, even in the Reformed tradition, although it is a distinctively minority position. And so here's an objection. The objection might go like this. So Christ had two natures. He had a divine nature and a human nature. And his divine nature cannot sin, but what about his human nature? His humanity can sin. And so, the objection goes, Christ could have sin in his human nature. And maybe they'll add that being able to sin is just part of what it means to be a human. But my friends, this is not so. I'll give you a couple of reasons for this. How can we respond? Well, one, let's start by remembering our formulation that Christ is one person with two natures. One person with two natures. And so here's the first response. The human nature was not just a human nature, but a human nature of the Son. of the second person of the Godhead. This human nature belonged to this eternal second person of the Godhead. This human nature did not exist on its own as if there was also a human person. But this human nature belonged to a divine person. The divine person of the sun. The eternal word has taken to himself a human nature. You can illustrate this as an adjunct, as an appendage of his person. And so then Jesus, even as man, cannot sin because his human nature doesn't belong to simply a human person. It belongs to a divine person. And because it belongs to that divine person, that human nature cannot sin. Colossians 2.9, for in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Just think of a human being, this one who has a human nature. All the fullness of God dwells in him. How could he ever commit sin? Christ could not sin. Secondly, and I'll make this very brief, and hopefully not raise more questions than I answer. But properly speaking, is it just a nature that sins or is it a person that sins? And the answer, and I'm not going to go through all this, I don't have time, that is not simply a nature that sins. It is the person that sins, and a person sins operating through the nature. An illustration that I thought of would be if you were to commit an evil action such as murder with a knife, it would be your person that is charged with that crime. Of course, your body is involved, your hand and your arm are involved. That is part of your human nature, but it is your person that is charged. However, the person of Christ can do no sin. God can do no sin. And so therefore, Christ, even in his human nature, can do no sin. So we have Christ's impeccability and his sinlessness. have a point of doctrine about temptation, but let us go now to application. We speak now of fleeing temptation. That's exactly where we're going. First point of application is to flee sexual immorality, to flee fornication. Look at what Joseph does. He literally flees. She grabs him by his coat and he's gone. He will not have anything to do with it. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, my friends. Paul actually writes in 1 Corinthians 6.18 to flee sexual immorality, to flee fornication. So this first application is a literal Bible verse. Have nothing to do with it. Be gone from it. And in doing so, avoid the sin itself. There are many ways in which the sin can present itself to you. For example, there's the evil sin and all the different kinds of sins involved in fornication, such as adultery, a terrible sin, and other forms of illicit and forbidden sexual involvement. These things that would involve being physically involved with someone you're not allowed to. These things that belong only to your spouse. Flee that. Have nothing to do with it, even as Joseph does. There's the sin as well of pornography. An evil, heinous, scourge upon the world today. In this country, I'm sure. And I think probably in the church as well at large. An evil, terrible sin that just lies underneath a veneer of righteousness that people like to present to each other. They can go back home after the service and look at some of the most wicked things imaginable. Things you probably should not even imagine. Flee this sin. Have nothing to do with it. Put it out of your life if it is there. Avoid this sin. How about this? Lusting in the heart. So we're kind of moving down there, not just fornication with someone physically, not just pornography, looking at someone through a screen or through a magazine or whatever, but lust that is in the heart. This is a heart sin that needs to be dealt with. And that's because even if you're not doing these other things that we mentioned already, it's still possible for you to look at or for you to imagine the most godly woman alive who is dressed in a way that is pleasing to the Lord in its fullest sense and still to lust after her. And the reverse would be true for women lusting after men as well. Probably doesn't happen as often, but with Potiphar's wife, we see it does indeed happen. So there's also this sin of lust in the heart that has to be killed. And it is the sin, it is this heart issue that Jesus goes after in the Sermon on the Mount, when he clarifies what the law of God truly is, when it truly requires this kind of righteousness. in the realm of fornication and sexual immorality. And so then kill this sin in your heart, brothers and sisters, in order then to have victory in your other faculties and organs, if you will. In order to have victory in your mind, the things that you think about, in your eyes, the things that you look upon. And in your hands as well. This ties in last week we gave the application of the sin of onanism and how the Lord condemns the sin. We know it's sinful from scripture. We know it's sinful from our own conscience. And so we must avoid that sin as well. It's interesting in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus gives the illustration of going to an extreme measure, like plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand. He does that in the context of sexual lust, and perhaps these two things are being put together, the eye and the hand, as he talks about this sin of onanism. So we have, in terms of fleeing sexual immorality, avoiding the sin itself. But let's make it even more, I don't know the right word, but even more extreme, if you will. Not just doing those things which are easier to avoid, but also avoiding temptation. If it is at all wise, and if we can at all help it, do not even let a sin like this get close to you. because your heart will be drawn to this sin in itself. If your heart is drawn to these sins, do not let it approach. So give no quarter for a place, give no quarter for sin to arise, for temptation to arise in a place. And for some of you, that might mean there might be certain times of day where you shouldn't be alone in the house by yourself. It might mean that there are certain times where you should not be unproductive, you should keep yourself Busy and if you think about David's great sin of falling into adultery with Bathsheba committing murder as well in 2nd Samuel 11 How does it begin that this is the time when the kings were out at war and David's here in his palace? And it is at this time when David looks and he takes and David falls Avoid temptation. And also here, maybe you should take some extreme measures to avoid temptation. Whatever is necessary, if it is a lawful and good thing for you to do. I mentioned how Jesus speaks about lust and he gives this image. If necessary, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And of course we recognize that hyperbole is a figure of speech. Jesus is not telling us to maim ourselves, but he is giving this image of an extreme measure that you take in order to avoid a sin like this. So for some of you, an extreme measure like this might mean that you take your phone and you throw it into the middle of Boone Lake so it can never be a temptation for you again. Get a dumb phone if you need. Avoid temptation. So avoid this in itself, avoid temptation. And then, what happens if you are tempted? If you find yourself in a situation where you are tempted, then rebuff this temptation with all of your might. Think of Schwerder Catechism, question 106. which asks what do we pray for in the fifth petition, which says, Lord, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one. And the answer to that question is that we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or that when we are tempted, he would support and deliver us out of that temptation. So then you can be like Joseph who gives no temptation. He gives no order for this. He gives no room for the temptation to sprout into sin. So like Joseph, flee sin. The temptation to sin as well. And when you are there in temptation, Be gone, like the Lord Jesus. You can speak directly to the temptation, to the tempter, if there's one that is there, if it's a relevant situation, in order to slay the temptation immediately and directly when it rises. So take this home with you today, brothers and sisters, to flee sexual immorality. Have nothing to do with it. Let it have no part in your life. And also, and we're going to conclude with this here, lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help and grace from the Holy Spirit. I don't want to simply preach moral lessons. Moral lessons are great. I need to preach them. There's more. There's a great Savior, a great Savior who is the one whom we look to for sustenance, for help, through temptation, to prevail through the trials that are placed before us. For 1 Corinthians 10.13 says that God does not give any temptation to us that is too powerful for us to overcome, but he gives us grace and each moment to prevail through these temptations. He does this through the Lord Jesus Christ who gives his spirit. And so remember him and pray for his grace. Pray for purity of desires in your own heart. The Lord loves this. The Lord loves when his children love to love him. Love the Lord, seek to love the Lord, to have impurities of heart, absolutely and utterly purged. Pray also for purity in your actions, the things that you do. And then while praying, look to the Savior, look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one to whom you have been united, the one to whose image you are being conformed. drawing your strength from him, the one who is the most pure, sinless, and impeccable Savior, and also the one who says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Look to him. Amen. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, you teach us so many things from your word. Many more things could be said from a chapter like this that you have given to us. So we pray for your grace that your spirit would apply these things to our hearts and lives. That it is by your grace and your goodness to us that we will overcome the evil sins which wage war against the soul, these fleshly lusts. And that we may rejoice in the freedom of being children of God, free from the slavery and the bondage of sin. We may have true joy in purity as we rejoice and love the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the most pure, the most holy man and God himself in flesh. In his name we pray, amen.