"Have We Trials and Temptations"

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Genesis 39:1-10

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Well this morning we're going to begin chapter 39. We're going to look at the first 10 verses together
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There's a lot to say about the chapter as a whole and there's all sorts of typology something that we've been
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Missing perhaps a little bit lately with Judah and Tamar in chapter 38 as our interlude
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But from chapter 37 we had already seen the way that Joseph is presented as a type of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and I'm eager to get to that. However, it won't be this morning next week
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We'll unpack as we continue and complete chapter 39. We'll take time to unpack some of the typology this morning
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I want to focus more on the first 10 verses because I think there's some needful application within it there's always a danger when we read
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Old Testament narrative to moralize the narrative and and this is why we're emphasizing the big picture of Genesis the
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Covenantal framework the the emphasis on the lineage and therefore the
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Messiah and even Typologically the coming of the seed that will crush the head of the serpent
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We've been looking at the big picture the big theme at the expense of reading it as a moral tale
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For how to become good little girls and good little boys There's a way that we can approach narrative, especially
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Old Testament narrative in this way Well, here's what you do and here's what you don't do and that's that's sort of the way that we compass through the text
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And so we haven't been doing that because that's really not the main way we ought to read the scriptures however, there's all sorts of import all sorts of application that is very moralistic and does train us in righteousness on what to avoid and and what to do positively and Here as we begin the first 10 verses
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We can't help but moralize what we see Joseph doing and so I want to take the time this morning to do just that we find in Joseph both an example and a call to endure trial and Resist temptation so we find in these first 10 verses as we'll see a call and an example to endure trial and resist temptation beginning in verse 1
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Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh captain of the guard an
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Egyptian Bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there
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In this little opening sentence of verse 1 Joseph had been taken down to Egypt We're brought back to the narrative thrust.
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We've finished our interlude. We had sort of left Joseph hanging at the end of jerk Genesis 37 now we're picking up that narrative again
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You could almost think meanwhile as sort of the parenthetical statement Meanwhile, this is also happening and everything that we read from chapter 38
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Joseph has been taken down to Egypt in that sentence is contained a whole world of suffering
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It wasn't that Joseph was escorted down to Egypt You know stopping along the way to take selfies in front of certain landmarks and just enjoying his time going to three -star restaurants
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This was a journey in chains This was a journey of being beaten as he perhaps
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Was wrestling with the prospect of getting further and further and further away from his homeland
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From his family his vengeful brothers as those cold nights began to set in on the coldness in his own life
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And he felt like what's going to happen to me when I arrived there. What what kind of master will
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I find? What kind of what kind of work will I be called to do? What will I have to endure? What kind of beatings and abuse what kind of torment will
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I experience so the Ishmaelites prodding him along dragging him along in Chains all of this difficulty and suffering is contained in these words.
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Joseph had been taken down to Egypt He arrives at the docks likely some slave market
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I'm sure there were many slave markets in ancient Egypt and here comes a master Potiphar purchases
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Joseph we read that Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh Interestingly the term officer here.
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It could be translated and often is translated eunuch That doesn't mean that Potiphar was a eunuch but it also
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Doesn't mean that he was not a eunuch. In Fact if we understand that he may well have been a eunuch
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It's it's hard to understand why he would have been given a wife But a wife could easily be and often was in the ancient world a status symbol and it was also a way of politically aligning families and so this may have been more of a
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Token marriage as it were and he may well have been a eunuch Which usually officials in Pharaoh's court often were eunuchs.
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This is not unique to Egypt This is true for many ancient civilizations If you were gonna be in the lord of the house's household, you were gonna be a eunuch
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You weren't going to jeopardize the harem. And so it could be that Potiphar is a eunuch now
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I mentioned that because it may be significant for details We'll see not only at the end of verses 8 through 10, but also next week
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If he was a eunuch this may have been one of the reasons that Potiphar's wife was was so obsessed with sleeping with Joseph It may also be why
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Potiphar potentially shows sympathy toward Joseph and we'll talk about that a little bit next week
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If you were caught as a slave committing adultery with the master's wife a
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Prison sentence would not be your fate a death sentence would be your fate
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There's an unusual leniency that it's shown to Joseph and there seems to even be some pull
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Over the treatment that he's given within the prison that may have a lot to do with what Potiphar Understood about Joseph and his wife and his own situation as a eunuch.
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So that's hovering perhaps as a detail behind the text Not only is he an officer of Pharaoh we read he's a captain of the guard the word captain here is literally in the
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Hebrew butcher and It may be that they had some capacity as executioners for Pharaoh that they had authority
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They were equivalent of military bodyguard police kind of all that wrapped in one and they also would carry out capital punishment so he's sort of the butcher or belongs to the butcher and that may have been a
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Way of metaphorically talking about his responsibility So Joseph is a slave to the butcher
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I think of Potiphar as some like Heinrich Himmler in the Third Reich Must have been a man like that kind of in charge of the
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SS doing the dirty deeds for the Führer We look at verse 2
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Not only was Joseph prodded along in chains by the Ishmaelites dragged away from his home
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Please keep in mind. I'm gonna repeat this later on. He's only 17 going on 18 years old
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Some of you are 17 going on 18 Can you imagine being ripped away from your family to be brought to a foreign land to a foreign culture to become a slave?
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This is human trafficking before our eyes But verse 2 the
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Lord was with Joseph Joseph was all by himself He was a
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Hebrew in Potiphar's household that already stood him out. He was a slave in this household
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He was a young man. He had no connections. No support. No safety No, no fallback plan.
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He was completely and utterly vulnerable But the
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Lord was with him and because the Lord was with him as we read He was a successful man and he was in the house of his master the
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Egyptian again this contrast between the Hebrew and the Egyptian Typologically very important as we'll see next week in verse 2
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We have this all -important phrase which will appear not only here but several times throughout chapter 39.
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The Lord was with Joseph and that presence in Joseph's life It has an effect brothers and sisters the
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Lord's presence has an effect in our lives Therefore the Lord's absence also has an effect in our lives and so much of the fruit of the
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Christian life is Determined by the presence or the absence of the Lord. The Lord was with Joseph Joseph had been the privileged son the beloved son the favorite son now
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He's a slave in a foreign land How in the world is this vision that he had been given of an eventual reign over his whole family going to come to pass?
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Now that really was a bizarre dream. There's no way that could happen now Does it not seem from an outward look like God has abandoned
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Joseph? He went from having the glorious robe placed upon him being the apple of his father's eye
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So now being cast away from his whole household his whole family has counted him as one dead
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They've cast him into the pit and from it into slavery and they hope never to see him again as far as he knows
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He will never see them again. It seems like God has put the mark of Cain on Joseph. It seems like God has abandoned
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Joseph But the Lord is with him. What a strange way
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God is with his people What a strange way God is with his people from an outward look
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We see the suffering we see We see the very things that would make us think
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God has forsaken And in Joseph's life These are the very things that Causes God to be with him perhaps when externally speaking
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Things are going our way It's easy to claim God's presence, right?
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When he's working really hard and he begins to move up in Potiphar's household and he's given authority over all things
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Well now finally God is with me now. I'm back with God, but no Even in that long caravan of the slaves to Egypt God was with Joseph God was with Joseph not only in prosperity, but in adversity not only in blessing but in suffering the
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Lord was with Joseph this is what Stephen points out in Acts 7 when he's he's opening up the testimony of the whole narrative from the story really of Israel all
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The way to the Messiah and he says this in Acts 7 verse 9 the Patriarchs becoming envious
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That's meant to be a dig against those he's speaking to becoming envious it was for jealousy mark the gospel of Mark records that they sought him and The Patriarchs becoming envious sold
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Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him So Stephen in summarizing the events of chapters 37 and 39 to 40
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And this is really a sentence summarizing those three chapters. What he does not leave out is this all -important phrase
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God was with him He summarizes every his brothers were envious. They sold them as a slave, but God was with him
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So one thing we must take out if we're going to reduce the story down is this
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God was with Joseph And that ought to resonate with all of our hearts if we're believers here this morning
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The Lord is with his people not only in blessing as things go well, but Specifically uniquely when things are difficult in times of trial and testing
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God is with us Others take note of our troubles others play the role of Job's wife
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How could you say that that you're blessed of God you're afflicted. Why do you still follow him?
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What does this gained you? Why are you still a Christian? How can you believe that God is good? Don't don't you try to even consider why he's allowed these things to happen in your life
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How could how could a good God allow? Someone who's so desirous to serve him and know him to to bring this kind of suffering into your life
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And what do we say? You'll never understand But God is
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God is with me I'm experiencing now a communion with him that you could not understand
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He's in this furnace with me and I'm a partaker I'm I'm enjoying as it were the fellowship of his sufferings as As Helen Rose of you're the great missionary could say it's not my sufferings.
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They're his suffering That's how powerful this fellowship of the Lord's sufferings is and therefore the world around us
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They could never understand these words that are said of Joseph. The Lord was with him They'll never understand it from our mouths as we experience suffering and trial in our own lives the
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Lord is with me the Lord is good That's Incalculable to a worldling.
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What do you mean? The Lord is good. Look at you. Look at what's happened to you Look at what state you're in This is not only the theological entrance into the story of Joseph.
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It frames the entire chapter The the crown through the cross the the blessing through the trial the glory through the suffering
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Significantly God's blessing God's presence is attached to Joseph though He is not in the land of promise though He is far removed from the covenant household and yet God's presence is with him
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God's blessing is upon him. Not only do we see that the Lord was with Joseph but even the master sees it verse 3 his master saw that the
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Lord was with him and That the Lord had made all that he did prosper in his hand
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And so Joseph found favor in his sight verse 4 and he served him and he made him
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Overseer over his house and all that he had he put under his authority So now
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Potiphar begins to notice there's something different about this Hebrew. The Lord is with him
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Now there's no way that Potiphar could understood that the Lord the God the maker of heaven and earth was with this slave
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Joseph just by observance Like Joseph never says a word to Potiphar and he's just observing him.
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He seems quite industrious It must be the Lord is with him. He's a pagan. He's an Egyptian.
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He has no context for that He doesn't know the God of the Hebrews So I think implicit within verse 3 is the idea that Joseph had opportunity to give testimony to the
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Lord I'm a Hebrew and let me tell you about the God that I serve the
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God that my father serves The God that my grandfather serves the God who called me into covenant that's the only way that Potiphar could understand the
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Lord really is with him and As he began to notice that blessing that attended
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Joseph he sought to bless Joseph as well He gave Joseph more and more responsibility more and more authority
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He had found favor in Potiphar's sight because he had found favor in God's sight now this blessing of God it didn't come because Joseph was sitting on the lazy boy and God was just like well
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I'm just gonna keep blessing you and he's sitting there eating Doritos and flipping the channels and I was just like have it all
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Take charge of my house Obviously Joseph was cultivating that blessing of God God was giving the growth
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God was giving the increase Joseph was cultivating it by diligence by integrity by hard work sweat on the brow
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Sacrifice that's what it takes when you want to cultivate the blessing of God. It's not this zap
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It doesn't waft down from heaven unobtained you actually have to strive and seek after that blessing and it's because of that because of the grace of God in his
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Life and not only the grace of God in terms of the material blessings and the positional blessings but also the grace of God that kept
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Joseph diligent and disciplined and Servile in all of the right ways that too was the grace of God and it was cultivating blessing in Joseph's life as it will in our lives if we
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Cultivate the blessings of God by walking in righteousness and diligence in every way responsibilities grow
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Blessings grow there's fruitfulness when authority is exercised properly
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He comes he comes as a mere slave to become overseer of Potiphar's house
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You can imagine Potiphar giving the promotion something like this Joseph Can I talk to you maybe buzzing him in Joseph come to the office, you know, what is it sir?
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Well done good and faithful servant You've been faithful in just a few things
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And therefore I give you authority over many things Enter into the joy of your master
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You're now going to be overseer over my whole house and behind the scenes.
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We see this hand of God bringing him blessing and authority, but especially as we'll see next week with this blessing will come
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Testing and with testing will come preparation for even greater authority even greater responsibility
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Please don't miss that point. It is very very important Let me say it again in different words
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Joseph was diligent and the smallest things he had before him He worked hard with integrity and discipline and sacrifice and because he was cultivating that blessing of God He was given more authority more blessing and responsibility
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But then he gets sucked into trial sucked into temptation and he loses all of that and you might think well
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That was a waste that was worthless. What did I do to deserve that? But we look with hindsight and say no even that was part of God's blessing
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Preparing you for even greater authority even greater responsibility and blessing
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So the pit and the prison is no different than the blessing and the authority it's all part of the same purpose of God to give
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Joseph dominion and fruitfulness in the exercising of his authority So it was verse 5 from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had
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That the Lord blessed the Egyptian. Please notice that the Egyptians house Not Potiphar's house the
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Egyptians house For Joseph's sake and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had both in the house and in the field
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Wherever Joseph went God was multiplying. God was blessing. God was giving increase
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It sounds a lot like Jacob under the pinch of Laban. God was blessing everything he did that didn't mean it came easy
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It's hard work But God was blessing it and he was cultivating that blessing Here we see also
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God blessing Joseph in the house of the Egyptian And because of that blessing the household of Potiphar is blessed
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It's fruitful It's given increase and we see this principle
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God blesses the unrighteous for the sake of the righteous You see that as a principle here.
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This is what it means in some sense for us to be the salt of the earth God brings blessings to peoples communities cities nations.
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He gives blessings for the sake of the righteous For the preservation of the righteous in this sense where we're like salt a preservative for those around us
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It's it's for our sake as his righteous that others are blessed that God is long -suffering inpatient
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Even though Joseph is in this difficult situation. God's blessing is upon him and we're also reminded of Genesis 12
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God Said to Abraham whoever blesses you I will bless whoever curses you
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I will curse Well here Potiphar is blessing Joseph giving him more and more and therefore
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Potiphar is blessed Potiphar is blessed through Joseph as it were Typologically kiss the
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Sun this is what Potiphar is doing in so many words Verse 6 and so he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate
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Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate
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This is the summary statement. He gave all that he had into Joseph's hand However, the verb here is more intense and that means this is not just a summary
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But it's also saying he was given so much authority that eventually Potiphar had nothing to do nothing to rule over Joseph was basically running the entire show of the household.
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That's how much trust Potiphar had It's almost like boy, you know if I'm in charge of this even I'm gonna mess this up Joseph.
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Can you handle this? I don't even trust myself to do it as well as you but also there's some interesting wording here
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He did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate Except for the bread which he ate verse 9
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This is likely a euphemism Hebrew scholars point out the difficulty of this phrase It sounds to us on the surface like he had charge over everything except, you know
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Potiphar eating dinner Everything but Potiphar's mealtimes But it's a euphemism.
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It's meant to be a play and the idea is he has charge over everything But Potiphar he has access to everything but Potiphar.
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He can partake of everything but Potiphar so this except the bread which belong to Potiphar That's a euphemism and you see that again in verse 9 nor has he kept back anything from me
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This is Joseph speaking to Potiphar's wife nor has he kept back anything from me
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But you because you are his wife, you know, you are the bread the one exception to my authority
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And then also you have another euphemism in this word No, this is this verb you die in Hebrew, which is always used
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Adam did, you know knew his wife Tamar or Judah never knew
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Tamar again. So this is again the language of euphemism. He did not know Except the bread that he ate
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Now also you have here allusions to Eden Joseph we're told was handsome and form and appearance like mother like son
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Rachel was beautiful in form and an appearance So chip off the old block here and it's noticeable
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There's only a few times in Scripture where men are called beautiful in form a handsome in appearance
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David and Absalom that's like father like son and also here with Joseph But this is also setting up an allusion to Eden I'm gonna talk more about that next week
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It's it's amazing how this is actually pulling Echoing language from Genesis 2 and 3 so we're gonna look at that next week
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But here just notice this allusion Joseph comes as that fruit of desire as far as Potiphar's wife is concerned
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She notices that he is beautiful pleasing to the eye desirable And it came to pass as a result of this verse 7
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That his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph and she said lie with me so she notices
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You know that Hebrew slave He's really doing a great job He's so diligent.
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I've really never met a man with that kind of integrity Boy, I kind of wish Potiphar was like that Boy, you know if Potiphar had even half of of the diligence and the strength and the looks of Joseph I'd be so happy She she begins to turn this prospect over into her mind and before long
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She it's not only looking at him with a longing gaze, but she's actually calling him lie with me
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I love what John Calvin says here good application He says this describes an impure a dissolute look
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She'd often looked upon Joseph without sin right when he first came there off the slave docks
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It's just you go do this you go get that but now in time. This is a long time This is potentially over the course of a decade if not more
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That she begins to look at him look upon him become attracted to him She casts her eyes upon him
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Calvin says she contemplates his beauty more boldly then became a modest woman and Though we and here we see eyes
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Are the torches that inflame the heart to lust the eyes are the torches?
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Think of your eye as a torch that it flames Your heart to lust no wonder
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Job makes a covenant with his eyes The senses
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Calvin says readily embrace the occasion of sin Which is presented to them and then eagerly convey it to the mind
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So the senses as it were in fallen nature lay hold of opportunities for sin and they convey it to the mind that's why so much of scripture speaks to the condition of a darkened mind or For the
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Christian the need to renew our minds so that we don't conform to the ungodliness of the world our senses especially our eyes
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Convey wicked opportunities to our minds and our minds being darkened
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Arrive at bondage to sin Wherefore Calvin warns let everyone endeavor to govern his eyes his ears
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Every member of his body unless he wants to open many doors to Satan to the innermost affections of his heart
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What a beautiful image that is Your heart having these doorways in the center of your heart as it were is your your most intimate and desired
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Affections that which ought to be reserved for God the first commandment having no other gods before him
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Nothing else that competes for affection in your life That's guarded by these many doors which are opened by your senses conveying information to your mind
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And if you want to fling those doors open Then you can use your eyes your ears any part of your senses to find opportunity and occasion to sin and thereby
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Jeopardize the very affection of your heart opening up a new rival
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Lord in your life But look at Joseph.
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We'll come back to that But look at Joseph the master's wife calls out to him
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He was so diligent that every time she said do this do that do this do that It was right away right away right away right away.
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Then she says lie with me and He refuses verse 8, but he refused
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This is probably the first time in years that Tamar had heard the word.
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No from the slave Joseph She must have been falling backward
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What do you mean no What do you mean no and Joseph gives his reason
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If you know anything about this is not Downton Abbey. All right. This is not Joseph going. Well, you understand madam
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This is you don't speak To one in authority over you like this if you're a slave
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But he's so incensed with conviction that he lets it roll off.
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Look at his plea look It's like no you look you listen
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My master does not know what is with me in the house, and he's committed all that he has to my hand
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There's no one greater in this house than I nor has he kept anything back from me But you because you are his wife.
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How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? again
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Hebrew replicating emotion by broken vocabulary You'd translate that last something like this this this wickedness this great this great sin
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It's like this is a gas. This is a but this is he won't even let his mind go there
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We'll talk about this next week, but I can't resist
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I can't resist peeking into Genesis a little bit nor has he kept anything from me, but you
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Adam Eve look Every tree in this garden I've made beautiful and Full with nourishing fruit pleasing to the eye of any of it partake and eat and delight
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Except for this one thing that I'm holding back from you And it was because it was that one thing that was held back from them
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But the serpent was able to gain a foothold and deceive the woman and the woman being deceived ate the fruit and Adam stood by Paralyzed like a coward as he then took the fruit to eat after his wife
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Not Joseph This is the one thing That my Lord my master has not allowed me to have and therefore this is the one thing.
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I will not partake of How could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
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You can see Joseph's heart through his reasoning. It's interesting where he begins It's almost like he just begins where am
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I right now in this moment in this house in this situation And then as he goes he keeps on ratcheting it up higher and higher and higher until he's addressing himself before God He considers his relationship to his master
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Look at the authority. My master's given to me Look at all that. He's entrusted to me
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Not only the blessing that he's received but that that position of trust he trusts me
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Not just what he's given me. He trusts me Look at the privilege I have and therefore the responsibility that belongs to that privilege
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Everything's been given to me, but you and that's a trust that I will not breach and and then it's like he gets even beyond His immediate circumstance and he gets to the biggest picture of all how could
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I sin against God? Somehow in that long ripping away as a slave
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Down in that caravan to Egypt being cast into the household Joseph has not lost his faith in The vision that God had given him he was walking by faith and Not by sight
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It is a sad thing. Isn't it brothers and sisters that the reasons that Joseph's Joseph gives here
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To not sin to not commit adultery Are often the very reasons that Some men commit this sin
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Look where I am. Look at the authority I have Look at what's been entrusted to me. Really?
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This is the only thing left You see I Wish we could say it was just them over there.
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You know, it was just those those backward ministries those backward beliefs No reformed ministers have ever been compromised in this way the stain of adultery has passed over reformed pulpits, but it hasn't and It seems like again.
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There's just this idea Well, look how I'm blessed. Look at how
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I've arrived This is just the next thing for me now This is not a one -time event.
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You almost wish it could be a one -time event You almost wish this was the battle and he was successful and that was it
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But we read in verse 10 As she spoke to Joseph day by day
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He did not eat to her. So this is not a one -time offer a one -time Seduction.
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This is a continuous day by day Joseph cannot flee he's in bondage.
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He's still a slave though. He has all authority He cannot just run away as a fugitive from the household So he must stay and put up with this constant source of Temptation this constant voice in his ear to be turned aside and to compromise his faith and become corrupted by sin
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He's experiencing that day by day. Does that reverberate into typology you bet?
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We wish temptation was a one -time battle, don't we? You wish that you could resist it successfully and you'd never have to resist it again, but that's not how wars are won
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Right, you wish it could be decided in one battle. Well, that's never how a war is won It's always battle after battle after battle after battle and there's losses and there's sacrifice
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And you learn what not to do as you keep fighting this good fight But the key is that you resist it day after day after day and you never ever use the fact that God's mercy
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Renews every morning of every day to be an excuse to sin that day because every day matters and Living on presumptive mercy is a sure way to hell even mighty
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Samson fell Eventually Not at first and not the second time
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But even mighty Samson fell eventually But we have to be reminded of what we were told in verse 2
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The Lord was with Joseph Day after day he's being tempted but day after day the
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Lord is with him Day after day the adulterous his voice is echoing through the streets of the in Proverbs 5 through 7 and Day after day
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God is whispering in his ear stand fast in the Lord Stand fast put on your armor
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Joseph. You're about to go by her living room Joseph put on your armor Get ready to flee her steps lay hold of hell
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His answer was firm He could have said look at my situation I'll never see my family again.
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I'll never reenter the land He could have fallen into a depression and said yeah, of course, of course,
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I'm gonna take you up on this Potiphar Who has to know? Look where obedience has gotten me.
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You know, I used to be diligent and obedient to my father. Look where that got me No, but he's walking by faith so even when he's a slave in Egypt, he's still
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Obedient still diligent still disciplined still sacrificial and then when that brings fruitfulness and blessing
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He doesn't throw it all away as so many men among us do He stands firm this is a living historical example of the wisdom of Proverbs 5 through 7
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Resisting the allure of the adulterous, which is is more than just sexual immorality. It's spiritual adultery
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And this is part of the literary background of the story of Joseph Joseph's Narrative in Genesis takes on elements of wisdom literature.
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In fact, I was reading a little bit this week there was many examples of Jewish writings that use the story of Joseph in this way to become wisdom literature or even what you'd call a novella sort of Moralizing novella a very famous one that seems to be from the first century called
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Joseph and Asenet And it picks up on what does it mean to have integrity before God when you're living among foreigners?
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Right, so diaspora Jews would have been reading this to understand. This is this is who I am
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I'm I'm a Hebrew, you know, I'm called to a higher standard than the Egyptians so to speak around me
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With her enticing speech We read the disaster of Proverbs 7 This is what would have happened had
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Joseph given in had Joseph given his strength to women Rather than preserving that strength for the woman of Proverbs 31 if he had given his strength to women
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If he had pursued the impulses of his flesh, this is the result. Listen brothers.
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This is the result With Her enticing speech she causes him to yield with her flattering lips.
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She said she seduces him Immediately, he goes after her like an ox to the slaughter. I don't know.
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I know we have some butchers here I don't know if any of them have led Oxes to slaughter, but I I in my mind
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I picture a rather dumb bulky animal being trotted up the ramp oh, this is great, and they don't know what's behind door number one as A fool to the correction of the stocks till an arrow is stuck in his liver as a bird hastens to the snare
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He didn't know it would cost his life So listen to me children
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Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Don't let your heart turn aside to her way
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Don't stray into her path. She's cast down many wounded and And all of them who were slain by her were strong men this is
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God's wisdom Portrayed in the life of Joseph all of them who were slain by her were strong men
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Strong men The serpent is more deceitful than we could possibly ever understand.
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He's been studying human nature for thousands and thousands of years Men of authority are slain by her men of power charisma men of fruitfulness and blessing men of achievement men of kingdom effects
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Have been slain by her if we don't take these things to heart
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We're like dumb oxen being carted up the slaughter ramp Bunyan and Pilgrim's Progress he describes
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Christian you remember when Christian flees the city of destruction. He has to first trudge through the slow of despond and It's always kind of funny to me
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Faithful gets out of the city destruction. It's almost like how did you get through the slow and he's like? Oh, I went a different way.
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I didn't have to go through that. It's like what? But he took a different path out of the city and the path that he took
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Along to the to the wicked gate, right? that's where the evangelist was directing Christian go to the wicked gate and Faithful flees from the city of destruction a little bit after Christian But when he is on the way to the wicked gate, he's accosted by this woman
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Proverbs 7 woman Really Potiphar's wife and Bunyan calls her wanton lust and And this is what
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Bunyan says she made every effort this is faithful reporting this to Christian She made every effort to allure and ensnare me.
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You cannot imagine what a seductive tongue She has she pressured me severely to turn aside with her and promised me every carnal and fleshly contentment
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If you just turn here, if you just listen to my words, everything you want will be yours.
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You can have it in but a moment and so he doesn't have to go through the the sort of Depression and trial and real suffering that Christian had to endure
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That's one way that Satan will snatch up the seed that is sown That's one way that Satan will discourage young believers from pressing on in the
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Lord He tries to just pack them into the sinking sands of despondency Oh, you know, this was just a passing fad
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You were just put on to it by other people that seem to know the Lord like this could never be true of you Who do you think you are and they begin to sink in the slow of despond?
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But if he can't get believers that way then he'll get them this way through the whispers and the voice of the seductors and It's not even that you know
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Faithful goes beyond us and I think Bunyan is spelling this out. He he finds one called the first Adam Who tries to convince him come come to my city you can you can you can choose from among my daughters?
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In fact, you can have all three of my daughters You can have your choice of the the lust of the world
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But the pride of life you can have them and Then when faithful is almost pulled in by Adams offer
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He he ends up pressing forward and Adam is swearing and cursing and reviling him
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But he closed his eyes we read He closed his eyes to her bewitching looks and walked on and brothers
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Sometimes you need to close your eyes Close your eyes and walk on we live in a culture awash with sexual obsession
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If you've ever seen older video recordings Not just of entertainment
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I just just of people walking by on the street you can see the effect of of This cultural degradation the sexual revolution of the 60s and the 70s the the effect and impact of feminism
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Infiltrating and destroying marriages and homes Not only because of that feministic impulse which comes out of the garden
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As a result of the disorder and disarray of sin But also because of the effect it has upon men who then become passive and who look to gratify their most immediate needs elsewhere and Pornography today is a symptom of this widespread sexual obsession, but it's more than a symptom.
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It's a plague. I Was looking up Statistics and it's hard to know how they gather all their data
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You look for reputable polls and there was one I found from 2014 That was a
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Barna research group poll that was conducted among Christians and churches again They spell out how they define
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Christian. It doesn't always tell the whole story, but they said among among Christians in 2014 64 % of men use pornography regularly
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That's two -thirds Two -thirds of the church
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Not living like Joseph But living like Adam Not living like Joseph, but living like an ox on its way to slaughter
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That's two -thirds and that's 2014. I don't imagine it's gone down since then
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We live in a culture awash with sexual obsession and because of that our consciences are stained
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Because we live in a pornified world. It's all around us. It's all encompassing. It's part of the air we breathe
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It's part of our ethos Meaning this the sort of spirit of the age. It's our cultural spirit our cultural ethos
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And I'm always struck by this is from CS Lewis in his book mere Christianity. He notes this Please keep in mind when
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CS Lewis is writing. This is before the smartphone This is before the Internet and this is what he has to say.
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This is from mere Christianity You can gather a large crowd to watch a girl undress on the stage right back then they couldn't do it on a computer
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But he still says none the same You can gather a large crowd and watch a girl undress on the stage now suppose this you came to a country
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Where you could fill a theater simply by bringing a covered plate onto the stage and then slowly
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Lifting the cover so everyone could see the food that was upon it and just before the lights went out all that was on It was a little piece of bacon
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But the people went wild and they went obsessed to see that little bit of food on the plate Would you not think that something had gone horribly wrong in that country with their appetite for food?
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would not anyone who had grown up in a different world think something the same about the state of sex among us a disordered appetite
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That has dehumanized and degraded and brought suffering and depression and misery into the lives of our culture
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That's the ethos Whether we see it or not we are being shaped by this godless idolatry this obsessive bent toward sex
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We're now lust replaces love and The urgency replaces the intimacy we teach our children in the public schools that they're nothing but animals and They act like they're nothing but animals and all that is sacred and mysterious about being human and the gospel mystery of a marriage bed and all that it portrays about the one -flesh union that's
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Mysterious of a man and a woman all of that has been degraded and debauched and we've come full circle
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That's how it was in Egypt in Joseph's day That's how it was in ancient Rome back in the days of the
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Apostles in the early church But they began to walk differently
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They began to produce a counter ethos They began to let not the world or the culture define their views their
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Expectations their thoughts about sexual relations or the place of sex in one's life
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But they rather allowed the Bible and a god a god -given worldview Address how they were to think and pursue these very things and so it's interesting in the early church
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They don't do what we tend to do today They don't just take all of the literature and all of the art and and just put censored bars over certain things or bleep out
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Certain things that's not the early church's approach to the same obsession and debauchery in their time in their culture
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They didn't just say well, we want to watch it still but we're just gonna censor it. We want to listen to it still
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We're just gonna beep it out. We want beeps and black bars on all of the world's attainment
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Now what they did was they say we're gonna create something new from the bottom up We're gonna do our own literature own art.
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We're gonna create our own ethos So much so that they didn't just produce chastity
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Among the early church, but they actually produced a whole movement towards celibacy The very interesting study by Peter Brown who's sort of the authority on late antiquity on this very
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This very thing they went so far to the extreme that they began to renounce sexuality so rather than rather than Going toward the culture and just doing a world light version of all the debauchery
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They actually created something new so far to the extreme that many of them began to renounce it entirely
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That's how you get nunneries. That's how you get monasteries and and monks. They renounce it entirely
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Now we come and we look at that and say this is not God's plan this is not creation theology lived out
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We say with Hebrews 13 let marriage be held in honor among all let the marriage bed be undefiled not avoided
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Undefiled not repressed Undefiled I dare say brothers and sisters
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That our marriage beds are defiled just because of the ethos of the world around us Because we're not beginning with the scriptures with a
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God -led Worldview to create the ethos of what these things are and what these things must be
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Joseph knew I'm not an Egyptian Joseph knew my life has a different standard in a different calling
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We might in the end do very similar things, but for entirely different reasons toward entirely different ends
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Whether we see it or not Our whole cultural ethos is shaping us in harming us
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The young men the young women that are growing up in our society. It's it's tragic It's tragic what young men think and expect
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About how they were made and what they were made to seek. It's tragic and Devastating to think about what young women expect what they pursue what they'll put up with What we need to do is to stop responding with bleeps and censor bars to stop making a light alternative to worldly garbage and start looking at the scriptures to inform a
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Reformation and overturn of all of the godless cancer of our pornified society
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I Don't know how to segue so let me just say now let's finish up with a few applications just to The first is
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I want to talk about Joseph's reward and then second Joseph's refusal
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So first Joseph's reward Joseph is the slave and he's a slave who's been faithful in little
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Therefore he's been given much and the reason God Trains you in little and gives you more to train with as he's preparing you for his calling upon your life
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So this is a principle for the Christian that must be played out The success it says that Joseph was successful.
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It doesn't mean that he had a status so much as he achieved something Status is often how the world determines success you have
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Symbols of status and the world says there's a successful man That's not how
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God defines success. That's not how Joseph's success is defined here Joseph had an achievement and so a sort of godly look upon this would not be
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I was walking down the street and I saw you know Mercedes -benz, you know
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CL 500. I thought well, there's a successful man That's not how God looks like success
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I I go to the plastics factory and I see a guy who's doing double shifts because he's trying to provide For his family and and then he's going home and even when he's tired and his kids are half -asleep
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He's leaving them in a family of worship and I say there's a successful man There's a man who's achieved
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There's a man who's successful in God's eyes so Achievement according and defined by God and the blessings that attend that may not always be the blessings that the world sees as blessings
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Because we follow his priorities and when we follow his priorities We receive his blessings and they will not often look like the world's blessings
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When we face adversity or confusion, this is another principle. We don't really know what we should be doing
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We don't know what we could be doing. We don't know where this is all going Why have I been brought here?
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What am I going to do now? What is God's calling upon my life and there's all this confusion Well in the midst of that confusion as you're waiting upon the
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Lord be diligent Yeah, you don't know where you're going You don't know what you could be doing what you should be doing what you would have been doing
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But here you are and God's in control. Whatever. He's put in front of you be faithful Do it.
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Well be diligent. You see this as a principle with Joseph Maybe he came in as the sandal scrubber
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You you're gonna be scrubbing sandals all day long. I'm gonna be the best sandal scrubber in Egypt I'm gonna devote my my this will be my passion
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Until the Lord sees fit to give me further responsibility Be diligent with what's in front of you
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He who is faithful Luke 16 10. He was faithful in what is least is also faithful in much and He who's unjust in what is least is also unjust in much
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Joseph is working diligently Even while he's a slave even while he has no idea how
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God's calling is going to be fulfilled in his life He's walking by faith not by sight
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Not curled up in a ball on the sofa Not as a fugitive slave, but just working diligently with what's in front of him and he's working diligently
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For an inheritance that is yet unseen So much so that he has no idea how it could possibly be given to him
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I'm working as a slave in Egypt scrubbing sandals and God gave me a vision that I'm gonna be the heir of the family of The Covenant align
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I'm working diligently for an inheritance yet unseen Paul says whatever you do
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Do your work heartily as unto the Lord rather than man knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance
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It's the Lord whom you serve It's not Potiphar It's not your cranky manager, but you wish the company would just fire
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It's the Lord whom you serve therefore work diligently and As you work diligently
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Be patient Don't say amen Ross, you know, this is gonna be a good week.
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I'm gonna be working diligently They're gonna see a whole new employee in me this week around the house. I'm gonna do things up now
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I'm gonna get discipline and schedule those kids are gonna be through curriculum that hasn't been done in months Well as you're being diligent be patient Because I don't think
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Joseph did a week's worth of sandal scrubbing and then became the overseer If we just look at how long he was in Potiphar's household, he was 17 years old when he was sold as a slave
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He was 30 years old when Pharaoh promoted him two years before that promotion
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He spent in prison. And so he was in Potiphar's house for about a decade. I don't think
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I Don't think 1 20th of that. He was at the lowest rung and then the next nine years
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He spent as overseer be diligent and be patient Be diligent, even though you can't see the fruitfulness
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Why am I still doing this? Why am I still here? When will the Lord bless this? Is he going to give me more than this?
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Be diligent be patient Joseph is living his whole life as a servant.
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He's learning a very hard lesson for Christians to learn If you want to be great in the household of God you must become a servant to all
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So that's the reward of Joseph. The last application we want to consider is the refusal of Joseph Joseph's refusal is filled with two things primarily
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Gratitude and reverence Gratitude and reverence Gratitude because he says
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You know, I didn't deserve this I've been entrusted with this I've been given these things I'm now responsible for them
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And there's there's a privilege I have and I'm not gonna risk it. I'm not gonna compromise it I'm not gonna show an ungratefulness toward it.
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I'm I'm Grateful that I have these things. I'm not gonna risk them. I'm not gonna betray the one who gave them to me
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So gratitude, but also reverence How could I sin against God?
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Calvin says nothing's more powerful to resist temptation than the fear of God reverence
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Keep in mind Joseph was 17 going on 18 There's seasons of life that come with new temptations, right a
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Temptation for young people generally speaking is their night. They're naive and Their naivety causes them to be somewhat arrogant.
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They think they they think they know it all and they're too naive to realize they really don't know much about themselves about life about the world and That's a season of life.
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You have to mature out of that become like a man And then there's a temptation at the later season of life where you almost feel you know too much and you become not naive
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But cynical. Oh, yeah We know how it goes and now it's just the opposite side of the coin of knowing too much
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So not maybe arrogance but cynicism there's seasons of life that come with certain sins crouching at the door and their desire is for you and you must resist them and teenage years
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When hormones start flooding sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you. You must rule over it
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Joseph is 18 17 18 It's the fear of God I I'm encouraged that there's an 18 year old that has this kind of fear when no one is around him
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There's no CCTV cameras in part of our household David Hanson isn't you know waiting to come out of the curtains.
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Why don't you take a seat? You know and MSNBC cameras come rushing out There's no eyes around him
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The only person that could potentially ruin this for him is the very woman who's trying to seduce him
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There's no eyes on him. He's 18 But God is with him and God is watching him and he's living his life in the sight of God How could
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I do this against my God the God that I serve the God that I pray to daily the God that's blessed me
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The God that has a calling upon my life a vision for my future God who's been good to me
01:00:00
Even when things have been hard who's been kind even when life has been cruel a God who's been faithful Even when
01:00:07
I've been faithless, how could I sin against that? I'm living my life quorum deo whether I'm in front of Potiphar's bedroom or in front of the computer screen or in certain opportunities where where Everything could come at me and seduce me and bring me to ruin.
01:00:23
No, I'm living quorum deo How could I sin against God? Gratitude reverence
01:00:34
Blessed is the man James says who endures temptation for when he has been approved. He receives the crown of life
01:00:41
Joseph was crowned Because he dedicated his life to serving God Whoever else he had to serve there unto and therefore he endured trial and temptation interestingly in James 1
01:00:53
It's the same Greek term it starts out, you know with with endeavoring, you know All joy, my brethren when you encounter various trials the same word later on blessed a man who endures temptation trial and temptation the same thing
01:01:11
Day after day she tempts Joseph day after day he refuses and Look at to the extreme measures.
01:01:20
He takes he refuses to listen to her to lie beside her even to be with her
01:01:26
Do you see that do you see The the sophistication of the narrative we began with the
01:01:33
Lord is with Joseph and Therefore Joseph refuses to be with a woman.
01:01:39
That is not his Do you see presence absence makes a difference? In light of all that my master my
01:01:48
Lord has done for me reverence, how can I do this evil thing? It's it's reverence. It's gratitude. Does it sound like Paul saying you were bought with a price?
01:01:57
You're bought with the price and what's the context of 1st Corinthians 6 sexual immorality
01:02:05
Honor God with your bodies you were bought with the price Flee from sexual immorality all other sins a man commits are outside of his body
01:02:15
But when you sin sexually you sin against your own body Don't you know your body is a temple of the
01:02:20
Holy Spirit who is in you and you've received him from God You're not your own you're bought Spurgeon says
01:02:29
Joseph had enough relationship with God that he cared about more than getting caught before human eyes and Spurgeon thinks about I love this when
01:02:38
I regard God as a tyrant I Make sin a trifle But when
01:02:44
I know him to be my father Then I mourn that I ever resisted him when I think that God is hard I find it so easy to sin
01:02:52
But when I found God to be so kind so good so overflowing with compassion I beat my breast that I ever rebelled against the one who loved me
01:03:02
Do you see that's the difference? Joseph had to understand something about the character and the nature and the providence and the power of God to resist temptation like this
01:03:13
He did not think God was a tyrant. He did not think God had no control He did not think
01:03:18
God was cruel or arbitrary. He had faith in God, even though looking out He had no reason to have faith.
01:03:25
That's what having faith looks like. It's not by sight But at the same time we want to close with this meditation the
01:03:37
Lord was with him This is ultimately not the time to praise
01:03:43
Joseph for all of his integrity Typologically, we'll understand why it's framed in this way, but Verse two sets the course for the whole chapter
01:03:53
It's because the Lord is with Joseph that Joseph does everything he can to resist and flee from sexual immorality
01:04:00
It is because Joseph has put himself in front of the Lord in prayer and in devotion and service day by day
01:04:07
That he can resist temptation day by day It is the
01:04:14
Lord who puts us on the right path It is the Lord who? Who warns us the
01:04:19
Lord who guides us and steers us the Lord who who sends help and provides a way of escape?
01:04:24
Do you believe these things? Do you believe that God was it's faithful to you and he will provide a way of escape
01:04:33
He'll never bring into your life more than you're able to bear. Do you believe that? This is all that's meant to compel us to stand fast
01:04:43
To listen to Proverbs 7 and and listen carefully to the words and not heed the voice of the adulterer
01:04:51
The Christian life is so full of blessing and it has these deep pockets of suffering in these
01:05:02
Seasons of trial and setback they cause our knees to buckle and our hearts to waver and we're most prone to temptation
01:05:10
In these times, but that is the call to stand fast and you see Joseph doing that We're called to stand fast because God has given us exceedingly great and precious
01:05:23
Promises that nothing shall ever separate us from his love. He promises mercy that will renew day by day
01:05:30
He promises that he will be faithful to not leave us to our own devices But that he will send a helper to be with us to plead on our behalf
01:05:37
To guide us and convict us and and he calls us do not grieve him. Do not quench him
01:05:42
You see walk in resistance stand fast When we're facing trials and when we're facing temptations remember the same word
01:06:04
When you're being dragged by the chains of slavery or when you're being coaxed by the voice of seduction
01:06:11
The one thing you must have fixed in your mind is this in all of its meaning the
01:06:17
Lord is with me The Lord is with me The Lord is with me therefore
01:06:24
I in reverence I I cannot do this thing The Lord is with me. Therefore I plea provide a way of escape.
01:06:30
I'm running away robe in hand The Lord is with me.
01:06:36
Therefore. He's my help and my refuge my solid rock The Lord is with me as a shield as a protection.
01:06:42
It's him whom I love The Lord is with me. Therefore. He will satisfy the deepest longings of my heart
01:06:47
He will prevent me from being bewitched by a world that wants to bring ruin into my life the
01:06:53
Lord is with me In other words you have a friend in Jesus It's the eloquent, isn't it?
01:07:03
That Jesus calls us friends and I think he calls us friends specifically
01:07:10
Because we are so needy in times of trial and temptation The Lord says
01:07:16
I'm your friend Because I sympathize with your weakness and I know what it's like to have to face what you're facing and I'm your friend and you can come and you can
01:07:32
You can speak with me and you can pray to me. You can listen to my word You can bow down before me in reverence you can know that I'm with you
01:07:40
I've promised I would be You can ask for my presence. You can ask for my power in your life
01:07:46
You can seek help in the friends that I provided you with in a fellowship in a body
01:07:53
I'm a great physician, but I'm training up others to do my healing and redemptive work It's contained in those words of Joseph Scriven isn't in the hymn.
01:08:05
Have we trials and temptations? Is There trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged
01:08:14
I'll leave off the refrain just to let these words sink in have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
01:08:21
What's the trouble in your life right now? So I was Me and Cory are going through a book together and there was this one chapter.
01:08:27
It hit me Hit me right between the eyes the chapter began. What's wrong in your life right now?
01:08:34
period a question mark And it was just like what? Nothing.
01:08:39
Oh, well. Well now that I'm thinking about it. I kind of wish this was different And well, this has been a struggle for me lately.
01:08:45
And what a disarming question like what's wrong in your life right now What what trouble are you facing in your life?
01:08:54
What besetting sin is entangling you? What difficulty you facing
01:09:01
Have you trials and temptations is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged
01:09:09
We should never be discouraged Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows chair?
01:09:17
Jesus knows our every weakness God is with us
01:09:26
Therefore as the writer of Hebrews says the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation
01:09:33
The Lord is with us Friends so much of how the Lord delivers us out of every temptation
01:09:40
Is simply because he sympathizes with our weakness. He is present to us in a time of need
01:09:46
He shares the sorrows and the burdens and the difficulties of our weaknesses And that's why we should never be discouraged
01:09:56
God is with us. Let's pray Father thank you for your word.
01:10:02
Thank you for your promises. Thank you for your presence Thank you for your calling
01:10:08
Lord fill our lives with gratitude and reverence. I pray For this body
01:10:14
Lord that we would find in you a friend so faithful Especially in those parts of our lives that have brought us trouble and grief where we've been faithless
01:10:27
Lord the the plague of pornography surely has not passed over this flock unscathed
01:10:35
Is there a brother is there a sister caught in this sin are they being led like an ox up to the slaughterhouse
01:10:42
Lord Put a burden on their heart to seek out for help
01:10:47
Lord if they've been in bondage to this May they today be so convicted that they would reach for help.
01:10:53
Is there anyone caught in a sin? Anyone bowing down to a false
01:10:59
God anyone who's gone in to Potiphar whether literally or spiritually in some other way
01:11:06
Lord we pray that you would so burden your people out of Reverence and gratitude out of a fear of you of not being presumptive upon your mercy
01:11:15
But out of a love for you because of all that you've done for us and continue to do in us
01:11:21
Help us to hate sin. Let us build Not just sensor bars and bleeps but a whole new ethos out of your word that we can understand who we are truly meant to be and you are good and Wise design and stop just modifying and altering the garbage of the world and all that's deformative and debauched
01:11:42
Give us wisdom Lord as parents in This room how best to steer our sons and daughters how to protect their eyes and their ears
01:11:50
How to put guards and and and provide ways of escape where they're vulnerable and prone to attack let not the serpent sneak into our homes and Deceive and consume our youth
01:12:05
Let us understand the the holiness that belongs to us as your people We are truly as Hebrews living in the household of the
01:12:13
Egyptians Help us to be faithful Help us to be diligent with whatever you put before us as you bless us and entrust us with more authority
01:12:21
Give us grace to fulfill our Responsibility may this all be in accord with your kingdoms advance in our lives and through our lives
01:12:31
Into our homes into our culture into our community These things we ask in your son's name.