Genesis 39 Life of Joseph, Part 3: Flee Sexual Immorality

And Pastor Tim, will you open us in a word of prayer?

Sure. Father God, thank you so much that we can gather here again today to learn your word. We thank you for this church that teaches your word and rightly divides it. We pray for all the people here listening online and those of us here in this room that we would be edified as brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would be motivated to go out and do your word, not just be hearers only.

So we thank you for this teaching and we ask that you would empower Jeff to teach us and that we would be able to hear your word and then go out and do it. In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.

Deconstruction, Sexual Immorality, and the Danger of Losing Faith

There has been a rash of young people leaving Christianity or if not leaving the full scope of Christianity, deconstructing their faith. Have you heard of deconstruction?

Yep.

Deconstruction, deconstructing the faith. Behind every person that deconstructs, I shouldn't say every because you don't know every situation, but most of the time what you find is that behind deconstruction is not a problem with the Bible as such, the doctrines of the word of God, the truth of scripture.

Behind deconstruction is sexual immorality. More often than not a person gets involved in sexual sin or has I think of this great quote-unquote great theologian David Gushy who for a long time was a conservative Bible scholar and then he deconstructed and became a liberal and stopped believing in the inerrancy of scripture and such.

And what was his new teaching? Homosexuality should be accepted in the church. Well, you come to find out that his daughter or his son, I don't remember which one, had come out as a homosexual and all of a sudden the great theologian's theology changes.

Sexual immorality is behind the fall of many scores of Christians. It is the great danger that squanders the lasting benefits that come from the hand of God's good favor. It is for the sake of fleeting pleasures, pleasures that do not last.

So the wise person will flee sexual immorality. Tim, could I ask you to be the reader today? We have snow on the ground. So Tim will be the primary reader as we go through. Let's take this part by part and the first section in Genesis 39.

We are doing the life of Joseph and the first thing we saw in Genesis 37 was rejection, the rejection of Joseph by his own brothers and that must have been a deep heart wound to be rejected by those you trust, your own kin, thrown into a pit and then sold to some traveling Ishmaelites to be a slave.

In chapter 38, we actually transitioned over to Judah. The story of Judah is interwoven with the story of Joseph and he goes from a very wicked man in Genesis 38 and his sexual sin with Tamar to some indication of repentance there at the very end of the chapter because he does not go back to Tamar.

He stays away from her and seems in some sense to be repentant, but we don't see the full faith of Judah come to fruition until later when he's willing to substitute himself for his brother Benjamin. So Judah's story is interwoven with the story of Joseph, but we return now to Joseph.

He's been rejected and he's been carried off to Egypt. So let's read chapter 39, 1 to 6a.

That's the first half of verse 6.

Got it.

The Lord Was with Joseph in Potiphar's House

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard in Egyptian, had brought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of the Egyptian master.

His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he did or all that he had.

From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field.

So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge.

And because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Oh, sorry. I thought that was 6b.

Okay.

No, that's a different sentence.

Yeah, I see.

I cut it off there before now, Joseph. So when you are sold into slavery in your homeland, you travel over land and sea on this bumpy cart. What is your expectation of the life you're about to live? I'm talking about before he sold into Potiphar's house.

What do you imagine Joseph was envisioning for the rest of his life?

Being a slave.

A slave. And he will be a slave in a sense, a servant in the house of Potiphar. But what do you think he was imagining it to look like? Kind of like the slavery in Egypt, right?

Yeah.

Of the Israelites. Yeah, you're carrying bricks, you're forging bricks, you're working by the sweat of your brow. This horrible, difficult life and there's somebody whipping you. Just unimaginable pain and suffering.

But what happens? Surprisingly, Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, not any officer, the captain of the guard, verse 1, buys him from the Ishmaelites. And that actually turns out to be a very different kind of life.

Verse 2 says the Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. Now, do you suppose that the captain of the guard, Potiphar, had a nicer house or a worse house than what Joseph grew up in?

Probably nicer.

I think so, yeah. At this point, the house of Abraham has not been built up to become this great nation. It's still just a tent dwelling people. These Hebrews that are just don't have much. I mean you did have wealth that they had brought up,.

That Abraham had brought up.

So there is some significant wealth, but it's not the captain of the guard of the very kingdom of Egypt, which is the greatest kingdom on earth at this time. And this man, Potiphar, is very wealthy. So now he finds himself in the house of an Egyptian master named Potiphar.

His master saw, verse 3, that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. There's a psalm that says, establish the work of our hands, Lord, establish the work of our hands.

This refers to the hand of God's favor, which is an invisible hand, establishing the work of our visible hands. It's not a passive thing, where the person working just sleeps in every day and does nothing.

It is work by the hand willing to do whatever is asked of Joseph, but behind Joseph is an invisible hand. I think this is one of the key themes of the book of Ezra. Remember the book of Ezra? When they come out of exile?

And Ezra is a priest. I want us to turn quickly to Ezra chapter 7, verses 9 and 10. This is one of my all-time favorite verses, and even a life verse because as a minister, I take special instruction from the life of a priest who was an expositor, someone who would handle the word of God.

In Ezra 7, verses 9 and 10, we're told about how God's hand of favor is on Ezra. In verse 10, we're going to be told why God's hand of favor is with Ezra. Very important. So in verse 9, for on the first day ever, Ezra 7 9, for on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem for the good hand of his God was on him.

That theme of the good hand of God being on Ezra, pops up again and again in the book of Ezra. In 714, we hear about the hand of Ezra, which holds to the word of God. Verse 28, 728, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me.

In Ezra 725, the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, this theme. Ezra chapter 8, verse 18, by the good hand of our God on us. And this comes up again and again. 831, the hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy.

You see the theme. The hand of God's favor is invisible, but it's a hand that blesses and causes the work of our hands, what's visible, to succeed. Now, would anybody listening online or here in the room, desire for the hand of God's favor to be on the things that we do?

Please Lord, have you ever asked, how is it that a person can have the hand of God's favor? Because we all want that, right? Well, now let's look at Ezra 710. The word for, which connects to the hand of God's favor in verse 9, gives the reason why God put his hand of favor upon Ezra.

Ezra 710, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. So why was, there's three answers, why was the hand of God's favor on Ezra?

He set his heart to study the law of the Lord.

Number one, set his heart to study the law of the Lord. That's the word of God.

He went to share what he learned from God with others.

Very good. That's number three. And there's one in between.

He does the law. He does it.

It's one thing to stand up and teach a principle of God's word. The teacher also has to put into practice the things that he teaches. The hand of God's favor can lift us up above any circumstance. So the hand of God's favor is on those who study the word, do the word, teach the word.

Study, do, teach. Study, do, teach. You keep reading the word. Is anybody reading through the Bible this year? I'm doing that online. I'm sure tons of people are. Trying to read through the Bible to put into practice the things that you read, and then to teach others to do the same.

Not everybody has a pulpit like Ezra had, right? When he stood on his high wooden platform, and he read the law of the Lord and exposited such a beautiful scene. But everybody has people in their lives that they are called to teach.

Could be a grandchild. It could be a son or daughter. It could be a youth group. It could be whoever God has providentially put in your life that you could teach. It could be an unbeliever that you have the calling to teach the gospel to.

So these three things bring the hand of God's favor.

We all want that.

Let's go back to Genesis 39. Joseph is a man who believes the word of the Lord, does it. He lives what he reads and believes, and he's a teacher of these things. Verse four. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him.

That is Potiphar's sight. Favor given in his work. God is establishing the work of his hands. He's blessing the hand of God's good favor. The invisible hand is behind Joseph's work. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.

Now listen to this. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and in field.

That's pretty good, isn't it? So now he is basically in charge of everything and Potiphar himself left. Verse six. All that he had in Joseph's charge and because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

All Potiphar had to do in life was to think about what he wanted to eat that day. Am I going to Taco Bell or am I going to Chick-fil-A? That's all he really had to worry about because he knew Joseph was so capable, so good in every way.

In fact, now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. That's going to be an interesting transition into what happens. Now, just talking about this idea of God's hand of favor. It means that God is blessing.

He's providing everything that's needed for life and godliness. He's establishing the work of your hand. If you're a salesman, every sale that you make, you give glory to God and you're providing for your family.

You have a roof over your head. You've got a car to drive. You've got what you need to be successful in this world and you recognize although I worked hard by my own hands, this has to be the Lord because think about it.

Could Joseph control who bought him?

No, he could have been sold to a brick maker.

And spent the days of his life under a whip. But it was God's hand that established him. Did he work hard? Oh, absolutely. He worked so diligently that Potiphar could trust his whole house to him. So he's a hard worker.

And everything in a sense is going well. Does that mean that the hand of God's favor delivers us from trials?

Nope.

Nope.

It means it will carry us through the trials. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Praise the Lord. He will see us through trials. And that's about to come.

But first, there's another kind of trial. The word for trial in the Greek can mean temptation or trial. And in a sense, a trial is a temptation. But there's a particularly dangerous trial that will come probably to every human being at least from age 12 and up at some point in their life.

And that is the particularly dangerous destructive trial that if you fail, you can shipwreck your faith. You can end up deconstructing and losing faith altogether. And that is the trial of all trials, what one author called every man's battle and then wrote a second book entitled Every Woman's Battle because really it is every human's battle and that is, of course, sexual temptation.

Temptations to sin will come in this life. Now, let's look at Joseph in this situation. 6b, what I'm calling 6b, from Now Joseph through verse 7.

Joseph's Refusal of Potiphar's Wife

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance, and after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me.

It's interesting because it was because he was handsome and well-formed in appearance that she cast her eyes upon him. Is it a blessing or a curse to be good-looking? I ask myself that question all the time.

Is it a blessing or a curse? I'm just joking. Is it a blessing or a curse to be good-looking?

Depends who sees you.

Well said. Depends who sees you. It's generally a blessing, right? You'd rather be well-shaped in a good appearance, in good form, handsome in form and appearance, or as a female, beautiful, of course.

But there's a particular temptation that comes from that and I would say it's more difficult for some than for others and I think Joseph had it pretty rough in this sense because now the master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph because of how he looked to her and said, lie with me.

Here comes sexual temptation. So regardless of what a person looks like, there will be temptations. Temptations to sin will come. It might be in the form of an image on the internet or it could be an actual person who is tempting in this way, but it doesn't mean that God doesn't favor you.

So many people, when they're facing sexual temptation, they think, oh, I must have done something wrong. Is it wrong to be encountered with a trial or a temptation?

No.

Temptations will come. It's obviously a trial and what you do with it will determine your very future. The book of Proverbs, chapters 1 to 8, is very much centered on this because Solomon is training his young son in that book and what he focuses on is the dangers of temptation and especially sexual temptation.

This woman who's calling him to go to bed with her and he warns his son.

That if you do,.

It's like being a bird in a trap and you're going to get shot through with arrows. He's warning him there is horrible destruction down that road. If you follow that path, you could shipwreck everything.

So here we go in verses 8 to 10. You think Joseph does well?

Let's see it.

But he refused and said to his master's wife, Behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife.

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her.

Sexual sin violates one's own self-interest as well as violating God's good design. So we think of the glory of God and that is the ultimate incentive.

To live holy.

But here's what I would like to say that I think this passage is actually focusing on. It does have a phrase regarding God when it says and sin against God and sin against God in verse 9. That's the God-centered reason.

But what's happening here in the text is that Joseph is able to think through his own self-interest. And that's what we're supposed to remember from this text. Paul does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6 .18.

He says,.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person.

Sins against his own body.

You're putting wounds in your own body by these choices. And what Paul is saying is the same thing as what Moses is writing here in recording the story. Notice in verse 8. Behold, because of my master he has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

Joseph recognizes that by obeying God's good favor he's been blessed.

Look at what he has.

Everything in the master's house.

Is his.

The hand of God's good favor is on the line. That's self-interest. It's very important to notice this in verse 9.

He is not greater in this house.

Than I am.

He recognizes that in God's favor he is so exalted he has so much blessing so much on the line.

That he actually has everything.

That Potiphar has in the house. He eats the same food he sleeps in a nice luxurious bed. The house is one of the greatest houses in all of Egypt and he has the esteem of everybody. He has respect. He's been given all of these good gifts from God nor has he kept back anything from me except you.

The wife of Potiphar.

Here what Joseph is saying. You are his wife. How then can I do this great witness. The question is why would I squander the great benefits of God's hand of favor on my life for a moment of fleeting pleasure.

Sexual sin violates one's own self interest. Is it ok to appeal to self interest.

It is.

And there is a major teaching in Christian circles it really comes from the social justice crowd as well that self interest is selfishness and you should never be motivated by selfishness. Therefore you get books like.

Radical by David Platt.

Which have this disdain for self interest. But think about Jesus. What did he say. He talked about the person who exchanges this world.

For.

The one to come.

Is it better to gain the whole world but lose your own soul. Your own soul. What is Jesus appealing to in that sentence. Your own self interest. You should value your own soul not being sent into hell so much that you would sooner get rid of even all the treasures.

Of this world.

It's not an appeal to immediate gratification. That's the difference it's not taking for yourself.

What God hasn't given.

But it's the long term interest. It might involve short term sacrifice but it's still actually self interest. Think about this. Hebrews chapter 12 speak about Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the father.

What does that mean. Jesus was motivated by.

His own self interest.

For the joy set before him the reward of his suffering to have a people for his own possession Titus 2 .14 he was willing to endure the short term suffering and that is how it is with sexual sin sexual sin will present itself.

As.

Your self interest it's not the selfish gratification.

Of sexual sin.

Is actually toward your own destruction. It is in your own interest, your long term interest to flee sexual immorality because that is actually.

Against your own body.

Paul says, every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against.

His own body.

The idea is you're shooting yourself.

In the head.

You're hurting yourself. And Joseph said why would I do this. He recognized the hand of God's favor that blessing was in the path of obedience. Okay, amazing.

Point right there.

Now verses 11 and 12 don't even move in the direction of crossing a line but we notice from 1 Corinthians 6 .18 flee from sexual.

Immorality.

I'll have you read it in just a minute but I remember just often being asked this question as a youth pastor you probably get this. Well how far is too far. Can I kiss my girlfriend can I what level of touching or cuddling or what's appropriate in dating.

And the answer is.

To go back to 1 Corinthians 6 .18 it's not how close you can get to the line before you begin to cross it. It's the direction you're moving. You shouldn't be asking can I get this close. And it not be sin if to you, if your conscience is testifying against you, that's sin.

The key is your heart should be fleeing in the opposite direction, not trying to get as close as possible to say is this ok too, is that ok too is that ok too. Because that's the path to crossing the line if you keep getting closer and closer to the line.

Eventually you're going to push the line. You think you're pushing the line.

Ultimately you're crossing it.

But one day when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house she caught him by his garment saying lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

This is so important. He did not sit around and try to talk her out of it. He did not hang around and flirt. He got out of there.

He ran, he fled.

Sexual immorality. Ephesians 5 .3 says but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among.

Saints.

This means have not even a hint or an appearance of sexual immorality to be moving in the opposite direction and Joseph I think is the perfect.

Model of this in all the bible.

He's the preeminent example of one who flees sexual temptation. Doing the right thing you would think results in what? The hand of God's.

Favor.

Ready for a twist in the plot? Verses 13 -18.

False Accusation and Joseph's Imprisonment

And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house she called to the men of her household and said to them see he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us.

He came into me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice and as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house. Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home and she told him the same story saying the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us came into me to laugh at me but as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.

False accusations. What a false accusation. Did you notice how she tries to put it on. Potiphar? What a manipulative manipulative woman she is. Look what she says. She told him the same story the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us putting him on the defensive like oh you brought this guy in here so you better not disbelieve what I'm saying.

She's putting him on notice that you better you better respond to what I say here. You better believe women this is the me too movement right. Just because she makes the claim there doesn't need to be any other evidence.

Hey look here's his coat. You got his coat. There could be other reasons why you have his coat namely you grabbed him and he had to run out.

Of the room but.

She being manipulative here has him boxed in and she says as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. This dramatic story and it is an absolute.

Lie.

Doing the right thing sometimes results in false accusations.

Doing.

The right thing. We know that doing the wrong thing would result in horrible outcomes. What would have happened if Joseph had begun sleeping with Potiphar's wife. He probably would have got away with it once or twice or three times or five or ten times.

But ultimately be sure your sin will find you out. Eventually they would have been found out. And where would Joseph have been in prison. So he does the right thing. And where does he end up in prison.

Isn't this an amazing story here. And the moral is the hand of God's favor does not always prevent really bad things from happening. Think of Jesus Christ our perfect example. Never did anything but the right thing all the time.

And what did they do to him. Crucify him. Think of Paul. In every city he went to. He only came preaching the love of God in Christ Jesus the crucifixion and resurrection. And what did it. Get him stoned.

Thirty nine lashes five times.

Shipwrecks and beatings.

Flogging.

Just rejected and hated everywhere he went. It says here the hand of God's favor does not always prevent really bad things from.

Happening but.

His hand remains to carry us through.

So.

The horribly painful.

Outcomes will come in this life. In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world.

Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world.

We will overcome and look what it says in verses 19 to 23. Read it to him as soon.

As his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him this is the way your servant treated me. His anger was kindled and Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

And he was there in prison but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison whatever was done there he was the one who did it.

The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whatever he did the Lord made it to succeed.

That is remarkable because had he fallen in sexual sin he would have ended up in prison. He resists temptation and he ends up in prison. But the difference is verse 21 but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

And so the difference is yes he's in prison but God is with him he has his integrity. Had he gone the sinful route he would end up in prison but he wouldn't have the favor of God. The good hand of favor is obviously still on Joseph because look what it says verse 22 the keeper of the prison.