Joseph Reminds Me of Jesus-02 — William MacDonald

Every Sunday, we're privileged to have some boys and girls in the audience. Do you think they listen? Oh, well, then we'll give them a little quiz to see if they listen. And I'm going to ask David the first question, because he's already told me.

He volunteered the answer. What is the title of the messages that we're giving David? David, you told me. I know what you're talking about. Joseph, what? That's right. How old are you, David? Good. Okay, all of you.

Joseph’s Betrayal and Descent into Egypt

Joseph was loved by his... He was hated by his... Very good. His father gave him a coat of... Joseph dreamed that his father, mother, and brothers would one day... Listen to those. One day, when Joseph was looking for his brothers, they plotted to...

Good, that's right. But at Reuben's suggestion, they cast him into... Listen to that. Now, careful on this one, boys and girls. Careful. Then they sold him to a caravan for... They sold him to a caravan for how much?

That's tough. Twenty pieces of... The brothers, in the blood of a... And brought it to their... He concluded that Joseph had been killed by a caravan. Joseph... Oh, this is a hard one. Joseph became a servant in the house of...

Who was with Joseph and made everything he did to prosper? That's right. 100%. Very good. No question that they're listening. Turn in your Bibles, and we're going to read in chapter 39 of Genesis today.

Joseph’s Integrity Before Potiphar’s Wife

I'm going to begin just... Get right in the middle of things here with verse 6. Genesis 39, verse 6. And I'll read to the end of the chapter. So, he left all that he had in Joseph's hands. Talking about Hattifar.

Who was an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard. So, he left all that he had in Joseph's hands, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. In other words, he just cast everything and told Joseph to take care of it.

Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Now, it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and he said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my end.

There's no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And so it was that she spoke to Joseph day by day that he did not heed her.

To lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside. He caught him by his garments saying, Lie with me.

But he left his garments in her hands and fled and ran outside. And so it was when she saw that he had left his garments in her hand and fled outside that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them saying, See, he has brought into us a Hebrew to mock us.

He came into me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. It happened when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out that he left his garments with me and fled and went outside. So she kept his garments with her until his master came home.

Then she spoke to him with words like these saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came into me to mock me. So it happened as I lifted my voice and cried out that he left his garments with me and fled outside.

So it was when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him saying, Your servant did to me after this manner that his anger was aroused. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison.

Whatever they did there, it was his doing. That is, he was in charge. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's hand because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

Well, we had that before, didn't we? Everywhere this man went, things prospered. Remember the story of King Midas? Everything he touched turned to gold. Well, it didn't happen with Joseph, but wherever he went and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

Joseph and the Spiritual Beauty of Christ

Now, we'll just begin where we left off last time. Joseph was handsome, but his brothers could not hear. In verse 6, at the end of the verse, it says,. And Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Oh, I'm sorry.

What's the trouble? However, I have to make this acceptance. When it says that Jesus was handsome, we're not thinking physically, we're thinking spiritually. Because, frankly, I don't think the Lord Jesus was handsome physically.

It says that in Isaiah. No beauty that we should desire him. Beautiful is beautiful morally. He was sitting on her grandmother's knee and he said, Grandma, you're pretty. And the grandmother thought of her wrinkled face and sunspots and all the rest.

And she said, Oh, no, dear. She said, I'm not pretty. I'm all wrinkled. And the little girl said, You're pretty inside. That's the way it was with the Lord Jesus. Beautiful spiritually. But when he came, people had no appreciation for him.

His own people had no appreciation for him. It's amazing, isn't it? We don't know exactly what the Lord Jesus looked like physically, do we? You see these pictures of Jesus in the Christian bookstores, but it's not Jesus.

Don't ever be... It's probably wrong to have pictures of Jesus, isn't it? First of all, the pictures of Jesus are pictures of a Gentile, not a Jew. And then many times they're very effeminate, too. We know very well when we look at those pictures of Jesus, it's not Jesus at all.

But you never know, you know. And when the Antichrist comes in order to deceive people, he might come looking like that. And people would be taken in by it. I would think it would be a good thing not to go into pictures of Jesus at all.

But the treasure in your heart, the picture of the perfect, sinless Son of God, who was beautiful, truly beautiful in all his ways. Certainly, we can say that of the Savior. Okay, the next thing is that Joseph was faced with temptations.

The Devil’s Devices and the Nature of Temptation

Notice the stages of the temptation in this chapter. First of all, verse 7a, he cast longing eyes at him. He tried to seduce him to sin, verse 7. Three, she spoke to him day after day. In verse 12, she caught hold of him.

He caught hold of his garment. It shows you the stages in temptation in the life of Joseph. Incidentally, this is a second mention of a garment in the life of Joseph. They both caused him trouble through no fault of his own.

So it was a coat of many colors. Now, here's another garment, the second mention of a garment. And they both caused him trouble. Well, of course, behind the wife of Potiphar, you can see the devil working.

And he works in many, many different ways. The Apostle Paul says we're not ignorant of the devices of the devil, and we're not. First of all, the devil is a liar. He's a father of lies. He's been a liar from the beginning.

You hear the lies that rolled off her tongue, huh? Accusations that she made against Joseph. And then the devil is an imitator. It's an interesting thing that for everything of God, the devil has an imitation.

God has a way of salvation. The devil has a way of salvation. God's way of salvation is eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil's is salvation by work, by doing the best he can, by joining the church, by being baptized, and all of these things.

The devil has an imitation for anything that's of God. He's an imitator from the beginning. Remember when Moses was performing those miracles before Pharaoh, the devil imitated the miracles. And he's doing that today.

And that's why we have to be very, very careful. Just because a miracle takes place doesn't mean that it's of God. All a miracle means is that a supernatural power is at work. The devil can perform miracles.

And in the coming day when the Antichrist appears upon the scene, he's going to have a great image there, and he's going to cause the image to speak. It'll be miraculous, and people will be deceived by it.

But it will be satanic power behind it. And, of course, the devil is a master at deception. Paul tells us that his ministers pose as ministers of righteousness. Imagine that. I mean, they might even wear clerical garb and have the dog collar and all the rest, and they're there in the pulpit, and they're just teaching the lies of the devil, deceiving people on the way to hell.

Here, of course, one of the devil's devices is sexual temptation. And if he can't get people with that, he'll try to get them with doctrinal error. False teaching. And that's why we have to go back to the Word of God all the time and test everything we hear by the Scriptures.

What says the Scriptures? Now, I'd like to just speak with you a little while about the whole subject of temptation, because every one of us knows what it is. In fact, it says that in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, it says, "...that there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.". So, don't look at the preacher and think, oh, he doesn't know anything about it, you know.

He doesn't have the temptation. Yes, he does. Common to man. And the fact of the matter is, probably more than you and I realize, we have to say no 10 ,000 times every week, don't we? I mean, all the subtle temptations that come to us.

If you're in the supermarket and the clerk gives you too much change or something, it's a temptation. It's a temptation to pocket it, pocketing something that doesn't belong to you. Or maybe you go to the phone and you hit the jackpot and a whole cache of money comes down the slot.

What are you going to do with it? It's a temptation. There are tremendous ethical problems that arise in life today. I face them all the time myself. What are you going to do? Temptations. It's good to know that they're not unique to me.

Everybody has temptations. Not everybody has the same temptations all the time, but we're all subject to temptations. Secondly, I think it's good to know that a Christian can commit any sin that the Bible warns him against.

It might shock you. There's some just saying, we might as well face it. We might as well know it. Even after you're saved, you can commit any sin that the Bible warns you against. That's why it warns you against it.

You wouldn't bother to do it if you couldn't commit that sin. I'd like to suggest to you that sexual pleasure is one of the strongest temptations. Probably one of the strongest temptations. And that's where Satan has achieved so many of his tremendous victories.

He really shoots at Christian people and tries to knock them out of the race. That's what he's trying to do. But he knows how to do it. He's been very, very successful in doing it. But I want to say something this morning.

Christians Can Resist Sin

Christians don't... Don't misunderstand me. I didn't say Christians don't sin. I said Christians don't have to sin. If I say I can't help it, I have to do it, I'm really saying that the Holy Spirit of God is not able to give me the power to resist temptation.

That's what I'm saying. I mustn't say that. I mustn't think that. I mustn't think that I have to do it. The only time I sin as a Christian is when I want it straight in our minds. God is able to give me the power to resist.

And there never is a time in life when, faced by a strong temptation, I cry to the Lord for help. There's never a time when he doesn't put it in. Peter goes walking on the water to Jesus. He gets his eyes off the Lord Jesus.

He doesn't succinct. He says, Lord save me. The Lord saves me. Christian life is like walking on water. It's a supernatural life, and we're ready to fall any time. But if I cry, Lord save me, deliver me from this sentimentalism.

When I don't cry, there's trouble. God is able to provide a way of escape from any temptation that might come to me in life. But there are conditions to be met, and one of those conditions is you have to walk in close fellowship with the Lord.

That means staying close to the Bible. It means living the life of prayer. It means keeping busy for the Lord. It means staying in the Christian, close to the Christian. And I think I might have mentioned this before, and this is what applied to Joseph.

Supposing Joseph had yielded to the temptation. He wouldn't have been crying about it today, would he? He'd probably be famous as an Egyptian mummy. Gratification. Lose his testimony. Respect of his family, friends.

He can sell his birthright for a mess of cottage. He can lose his self-respect. And he can suffer from guilt and depression, with a cloud hanging over his life. I think you can see from this passage of Scripture that sin begins in the mind.

And we've gone over that before, but I think it's good to remind ourselves of it. Sin isn't something that just comes upon me like the flu, or something like that. Quite, you know, unasked for, begins up here in the mind.

An evil thought comes into my mind, and I think, hmm, I don't like that. I think I'll just nurse that one along, you know. I control what I think, and so do you. And the Bible teaches us that if we think about a thing long enough, sooner or later we're going to do it.

Whereas if I sell that thought from my mind, and say I can't do that, oh yes you can do it. How do you do it? You can't think about two things at once. Why? Can you think about two things at once? Think about a hot fudge sundae, and then think at the same time of the map of South America.

I can't think about those things. I've got to separate it somehow in my mind. You can't think about sin, and think about the Lord Jesus at the same time. So the idea is, when an evil thought comes into your mind, sell it.

And think about the Lord. That's it. But if you nurse the thought, and just keep on thinking about it, think about, sooner or later you're going to do it. Maybe not this week, maybe not this month, but sooner or later.

The Body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 13 through 20, and I think we should turn to that, because it is very, very important. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 13 through 20. It says in verse 13, food for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will destroy both it and them.

I mean that's temporary. Food. Now, the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. That's interesting, isn't it? The Lord is for this body, and he's interested in this body of mine, and he's interested that I should keep it in purity.

And God has raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. You say, why does he say that? Because it shows he's interested in the body. If I die, and my body's put into the grave, and returns to dust, God's going to reconstitute that dust some day.

Raise that body. God is interested in that, and he's interested in how we use the body here in life. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? This is speaking to believers now. Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot?

Certainly not. How incongruous that would be. Think of taking the members of Christ, and making them members of a harlot. Which happens to be a union of persons. Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?

For the two, says he, shall become one flesh. That he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him, and there's nothing closer than that. And one spirit with the Lord. Much closer than the union of two bodies.

Sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body. That he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. And if you know that truth, the terrible diseases that accompany sexual immorality, the guilt, the depression, the constant jab to wake, the mention of places or people connected with sin.

And this is the most telling verse of all, I think. Verse 19. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit. This our God. This means that when a person becomes a true believer, a Christian, born again person, his body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit indwells that person. Temple. Jesus means temple. Temple is a place to be for worship, isn't it? The Holy Spirit indwells my body which is to be used for the worship of the Lord Jesus and not for immoral purposes.

The Holy Spirit, I think emphasis on the word holy there, who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own. You were bought at a price. What an enormous price. The redemption of the human soul, the blood of Christ shed at Calvary.

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit. This our God. That's kind of a gizmo. Picture your painting today, Mr. McDonald. Let me tell you something. If a person is not a believer and there has been failure, it's quite possible and quite easy to come to the Lord, to repent of sin, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have the passion.

I think that's what a wonderful redemption. Never can a mortal know how our sins go red like cinders. This is a wonderful gospel of redeeming grace, that if I come to the Lord in all my sin and wretchedness and repent of those sins and trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, God not only forgives but he forgets.

As far as he eats is removed from the rest. So far have I removed God's thanksgiving from me. And God can look down at me and see me in Christ and not find a single sin on me that is to punish me. Now that's wonderful.

Reach my blessed Savior first. Take him from God's esteem. Prove Jesus cares one spot of sin and sell me on that sin. When you trust Christ as your Savior, you stand before God in all the acceptability of God's beloved Son because you're in Christ.

And the past is blotted out. Is that good news? I think it's good news. That's what the gospel means. It means good news. I want to tell you, there are a lot of people going to the psychiatrists and the psychologists and the psychotherapists these days because of this very problem we're talking about today.

And what they need is to go to the cross of Calvary and hear the Lord Jesus say to them, your sins are forgiven. Is that something those psychiatrists need? Psychiatrists can't forgive sins, but Jesus can.

And he longs to do it. He longs to do it for Jesus. So, good news for the sinner. You say, yeah, but I'm a Christian. But I've slipped since becoming a Christian. Is there any hope for me? Well, there's tremendous hope for you.

Forgiveness, Restoration, and the Consequences of Sin

Listen, just because a man has failed doesn't mean that God is through with him. Just remember this. It doesn't make us want to sin. But it's true, just saying. Just because a person has failed doesn't mean that God is through with him.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, it says. And I tell you, I love that verse. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. If I come as a believer and confess my sin and forsake my sin, God forgives me.

It says that in 1 John 1 verse 9. We confess our sin in faithful and just to forgive us our sin. He defends us from all unrighteousness. So is forgiveness. The salvation for the sinner and forgiveness for the saint.

But I should add a word here too. Lest you think that you can sin and get away with it. You should know this. Although God forgives our sins, sometimes the consequences of our sins are meaningless. We shouldn't have light thoughts about sin.

For instance, a man whose sin may be smitten with age. Can that man be saved? Of course he can be. No matter how deep and dark his sin is. He's saying that again, dark passions subdue. No matter how dark his passions may be, he can be forgiven, he can be saved.

But the consequences, that's very well lingo-looking. And at a certain time they would lingo-looking. Christian went out and got drunk and... But praise God, Joseph proved himself a man of integrity.

Joseph’s Integrity and Christ’s Temptation

And it's really beautiful to watch this dear son. He gave, he had his reasons for resisting. And I think there are so many. First of all, he said in verse 8, My master sucks. My master sucks. Secondly, his master had given him an exalted position.

Verse 9. And then, he was a married woman. Reminded of that. He was a married woman. He was married to the very man who was his master. The argument of all that he gave is in verse 9. There is no sin that isn't against God.

Joseph realized that and made his decision on that basis. But you know, the Lord Jesus was faced with strong temptation, wasn't he? Remember how, in the wilderness, the devil came to him? Three times the devil came to him.

He healed him of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Three times. What does the Lord Jesus do? He taught us his scriptures. He went back to the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy.

He said, It is written, Man shall not live by... It is written, Thou shall not tempt the Lord by... That's a wonderful thing for us. When there's taste, there's temptation. It often happens that when a person is newly saved, the devil comes with all kinds of doubts.

He tempts that person to die. If you were really saved, you wouldn't do that. If you were really saved, you wouldn't do that. Or you wouldn't say that. The devil is a nasty kind of guy. What do you do?

Close the word of God. Now, how do you close the word? You quote John 3 .15. Thank God for love of the world. He gave his only begotten Son, that he forever believeth on him. He said, Not perish, but have everlasting life.

I am whosoever. I can fit into that word, whosoever. I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The word of God says I have everlasting life. How do you do that? The devil will leave you alone. The devil cannot.

That's a wonderful reason for having the word of God in your mind, so that you can quote it to him, that he comes to you with all of these doubts. Now, I wanted to say something about the temptation of the Lord Jesus.

It says in Hebrews that he was tempted in all points, as we are yet without. I want to make this very clear. The Lord Jesus, he could be tempted from without. He couldn't be tempted. You and I can be tempted from without and from within.

And we want to remember that. You hear a lot of perilous talking about the Lord Jesus and his ability to change. God changed. People say it wasn't a real temptation that he couldn't change. It was a real temptation.

It was a very real temptation. He showed himself to be immaculate, to be absolutely pure, absolutely above. Remember that. There's nothing in Jesus that could be fond of sin. He said that. He said the prince of this world cometh and finds nothing.

There's no area that the prince of the world could attack into life. But he could be tempted from without. And he was in the wilderness, and that's what this reference in Matthew 4, verses 1 -11 is all about.

Christ’s Sinlessness and False Accusation

The prince had proved himself a man of purity and integrity, and certainly the Lord Jesus did as well. And then, as we saw, he could not sin against God. Turn to John chapter 8 and verse 29 and see what it says there about the Lord Jesus.

People say Jesus could have sinned. John 8, 29. He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone. Listen, for I always do those things that ye sin. What a wonderful case. I always do those things that ye sin.

He was, Joseph was falsely accused. You talk about a case of circumstantial evidence. It was terrible, wasn't it? There's no case against, no valid case against Joseph of all. What did that prove? Did that prove he sinned?

Of course it did. Circumstantial. It's often a case in life, isn't it? You call a falsely accused. The Lord Jesus was falsely accused. Remember, at his trial, they found it very difficult to find, and even when they got witnesses, they couldn't agree among themselves.

What about a kangaroo court? That was it. I've heard of it. Finally, they said, well, he said that he would destroy the temple, you know, build it in three days. Of course, when Jesus said that, he was speaking about the temple of his body.

He said, destroy the temple in three days. I will raise it again. He'd need his death, burial, and burial. So, they had to conspire the case against the Lord Jesus, just as this woman conspired the case against Joseph.

Falsely accused. And yet, Joseph had done nothing wrong. Absolutely outstanding in the way he conducted himself through this whole passage, wasn't he? And we mentioned in the first class that we had on this whole subject that the Bible never mentions anything against Joseph.

One of two men in the Old Testament, nothing negative is ever said about him. Doesn't mean that he didn't sin, but the Bible doesn't say. Turn to 1 Peter 2, verse 22, to see the correspondence with the life of the Lord Jesus.

1 Peter 2, verse 22. Who committed no sin. This is the Lord Jesus. Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. What is guile? Deceit. Deceit in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile him.

He turned when he suffered, and he did not threaten. He committed himself to him who judged him. The evidence was completely fraudulent against Joseph. Absolutely fraudulent. Turn to Mark, chapter 14, verse 59, and see that in the life of the Lord Jesus, in the trial of the Lord Jesus.

Mark, chapter and verse 59. That even then did their testimony, even then, not even then did their testimony. A pathetic situation, wasn't it? Here are these men testifying against the Son of God, and they couldn't even agree with their testimony.

Shouldn't have stood up in any court of law. We find this dear man of God suffering for righteousness' sake. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did, and it's very pleasing to God when people suffer for righteousness' sake.

It's no glory to God if I suffer for wrongs that I've done, but it is glory to God if I suffer for righteousness' sake. Most of us in this country don't really know very much about that. You know, none of us have ever had the right to do that.

Maybe some of us at work, or at school, or have known me at school, are suffering for righteousness' sake. It's pleasing to God. We really should do that in 2 Peter, in 1 Peter 2. I mean, because it's so important to get these things in our mind.

1 Peter 2, verse 19 says, Well, this is commendable if, because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it when you're beaten for your fault, you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer for it, you take it patiently?

It's hard to be doing the right thing and to suffer for it, but to do it as a Christian for testimony. I think maybe just one more point, and then we'll close. He was thrown into prison. Joseph was thrown into prison, and he was numbered.

Joseph as a Picture of Christ’s Suffering

This is what happened to the Lord Jesus. In fact, it says that in Isaiah 53. He was numbered with the transgressors. Joseph was in jail with Pharaoh's butler and baker, and the Lord Jesus was there on that center cross with the two thieves, the two malefactors, beside him.

Amazing, isn't it? How the life of Joseph, so beautiful, the life of the Lord Jesus, he was to come. I don't know how all this applies to you. Today we pray before we speak, but the Lord will speak the message to every heart.

You know, the Holy Spirit is able to do that. He's able to take a message and the word of God, and no matter what you might be going through now, something there for you. We hope that's the case today.

If you're unsaved here, and are interconnected, and you're not a decided Christian, feel free to stay behind and talk to us. You're playing the role of mother. If you're a Christian and having some problems, too, feel free to stay and talk to us.

Prayer for Holiness and Spiritual Empowerment

Maybe this has awakened something. We'll listen to God in prayer, and then I think John has a quote for us. Shall we pray? Father, we adore the intensity of your scripture. Think of your word, and how much is confessed in so little.

We do thank you that in this book we have all things that are necessary for life and prosperity. We thank you we don't have to go to the empty cisterns of this world for wisdom. We have wisdom in the book, and in the Lord Jesus we do.

Thank you for these views of the life of Joseph, and we think especially today of how he endured temptation, and how there is a special reward for those who do endure. We pray that in all of life, those of us who are believers will have the courage to say, pray for those who are not believers, to say, might know the blessing of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and empowered to live the Holy Spirit.