Amen. Thank you, Angel. Thank you so much. Good morning. How's everyone doing today? Great, great. We want to go ahead and dismiss our children right now, K-5 through 5th grade, if you guys will follow Mr. Taylor.

Amen. Amen.

Oh, church, church, church, church. Does today seem odd to anyone else? Other than just me? Yeah.

It just feels so heavy today. I don't know why. Maybe I'm supposed to have a confession here for you.

Last week we had Genesis chapter 38, and it was a chapter I've been regretting to get to a point to teach,

because there's nothing great about it, okay? And so it was a hard chapter to teach, and so it was one of those things where I get distracted somewhat easy.

That's why I have to have some bullets here to follow on my messages and whatnot. So I'm trying to stay on task and teach a sermon that's a hard sermon to lay out and just see what kind of truths we have in Genesis 38.

And in the meantime, all of a sudden, about halfway through, I see all these people getting up moving, moving, moving. And you guys start watching everybody moving.

And I'm like, well, I lost everybody now. You know, what the heck is going on? I didn't know Miss Pauline was having chest pains in the back. Praise the Lord, she's fine.

But, yeah, amen to that. I see people out in the parking lot. I see people driving. I see people yucking it up, wrestling out there with each other, because I can see out there.

And then people moving. I was like, what was going on? What in the wildest force is going on around here? I know the message is bad, but it can't be that bad.

But maybe it was. So anyway, so I'm pushing through, and then all of a sudden, God convicts me when I get back. I'm coming out, and Luann's coming out, and Bobby tells me to go see Luann.

And I'm like, well, what's Luann doing? Luann never moves. And so what's she doing?

And she says, Miss Pauline's had chest pains. I'm like, okay, so I feel like so guilty for being distracted, right?

So I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You know, I know about 30 of you like to move around and use the bathroom anyway, so I try not to be distracted with that anyway.

But it's just one of those things. It was the perfect storm. So we're just praising Jesus this morning for two things.

Number one, Miss Pauline is fine. Yes, her test came back. Yes.

And number two, that we don't have to teach chapter 38 again unless we want to. So there you go.

And the want-to factor is really low right now.

So, but today we get into Genesis 39. 39. So we're moving into some other things, and I'd say, well, this is a good thing.

But now we can deal with Joseph. Finally, we're getting to Joseph. But he's got an issue with Potiphar's wife, or Potiphar's wife has an issue with him.

So we've got all these uplifting messages in here, right? But hey, there's some things we can glean from in here.

There's some things that we can take from. And today's sermon title, I tried to get as clever as I could with this, Bobby.

He ain't stepping out. Ain't stepping out. So, does anybody know what that means? If you're stepping out, what's that mean?

There we go. Somebody's with somebody. Ain't stepping out. Joseph ain't stepping out, okay?

So we get to chapter 39, and we have the bulk of Genesis now. It's going to be about Joseph.

And most Christians, though, this is not how they think about the book of Genesis when you look at this.

Because you think about Genesis, and you're like, well, it's got the creation story.

We've got the story of the fall of man, and all this other stuff.

And we have the story of Abraham, and the giving of the Abrahamic covenant.

And you've got Isaac, and you've got Jacob, you've got the patriarchs, and you've got all this stuff.

But actually, when you look at the textual real estate that's given, the story, and how much Joseph is elaborated on,

Joseph has the bulk of Genesis. And there's a reason behind this.

And it becomes the transition point between the patriarchs and Exodus.

Okay? Joseph is the transition point between that.

And so, the story of Joseph tells us how the children of Israel became dwellers in Egypt to begin with, okay?

And eventually slaves in Egypt, all right?

But before there were thousands of Hebrews...

But I also want you to understand that when the, when the hand of God rests upon someone, when the hand of, the favor of God rests upon somebody, that also brings about opposition.

Just so you know, whether God's favor is resting upon you as an individual, maybe even in your business, maybe in God's blessing, there will be opposition in that. Because it makes the world upset. The world is upset by that, okay?

But calamity is never without purpose. The calamity, this is all part of God's plan.

And we pick up chapter 39 and verse 1. Now, Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. That term, brought down to Egypt. You're going to hear that a lot. You read that a lot.

In the old African American spirituals, they sing about being brought down to Egypt, you know?

That whole thing, that's a negative connotation, if you will, too.

And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.

Okay? So we have Potiphar here, and he gives us three qualifiers for Potiphar.

Number one, he's an officer of Pharaoh.

He's a captain of the guard, means he's got a military rank, and he's an Egyptian.

All right? Gives us three qualifiers here with Potiphar.

Now, Pharaoh, Pharaoh's a title. That's a title.

There are many pharaohs, but he's basically the king of Egypt, okay?

And he's the king of Egypt who also thought of himself as a god, okay?

He was a deified figure and had a lot to do with the culture and the political system and the religious mythology of Egypt.

But Potiphar has brought Joseph, has bought him from the Ishmaelites, and he's been brought down to Egypt.

Now, Egypt actually holds a very important place in the narrative of Scripture, when you look at this.

Because, actually, Egypt becomes a necessary refuge for many people within Scripture.

It's a place where Abraham finds refuge at one point in time.

Remember? He finds refuge in Egypt.

It becomes a place of refuge for Isaac.

It becomes, eventually, a place of refuge for the children of Israel.

Egypt was a place of refuge for Jesus himself at one point in time in his life.

So, why Egypt, okay?

Later on, when we're dealing with the famine that occurs, and the famine occurs even in Egypt,

we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit, but as the story goes on,

Egypt is the fertile land of the Nile Delta, all right?

And the Nile Delta is sort of like the Mississippi Delta in the United States.

Some of the richest, best farmland in the world is found in these regions, okay?

And that's the reason why, when other areas experience famine, Egypt usually doesn't.

And that's why everybody flees there.

That's why everyone goes there.

And Egypt becomes a place of refuge.

Verse 2.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man.

And he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

So, Joseph found favor in his sight, and attended him.

And he made him overseer of his house, and put everything in charge of all that he had.

From that time that he made him an overseer in his house, and over all that he had,

the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.

The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field.

So, he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him,

he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now, that's kind of interesting.

So, here we have another pattern in Genesis here, and that is the blessing of God is on a man,

and other people are going to seek to live off of this blessing that's on this man.

Okay?

It's a pattern we've seen in Genesis.

It happened with Abraham.

It happened with Iacular rise that's taking place, because he is a Hebrew slave.

Joseph is a Hebrew slave.

He's actually the manager of the entire household, the entire household of Potiphar,

who is an Egyptian, one of Pharaoh's staff, one of the captains of the guard.

And the scripture is very clear that he puts everything in charge.

It says, everything he puts in charge in Joseph,

That's food, okay? Not the food that's in the storehouses, but the food he ate, his own personal food, okay? And so, and the reason for that is because the Egyptians had built an entire cult upon food. They thought that if you weren't an Egyptian, you had no business touching their food, number one. And if you weren't an Egyptian, you didn't know how to really prepare their food. It's kind of like Steve Hemingway. If you know Steve very well, Steve's a real nut.

His wife is not even allowed to take a drink out of his own cup, okay? Steve has that phobia. Nobody touches my cup, okay? He's an Egyptian when it comes to that. That's the mindset that he has here.

Just a little interesting tidbit that's embedded here. But he entrusts all of his affairs, all of his business, all of his servants, everything. Don't touch my food.

Don't touch my food, okay? And that's where Potiphar is. And he goes on to say in verse 6,

Now, Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. This is just a very straightforward statement.

Joseph was, he would be the man of the year, the most sexiest man alive, okay? By People magazine, okay?

He was very attractive physically. That's what the Scripture is trying to, it's very candid about this.

He was 17 years old when he was sold off into slavery. He's probably not 17 now. He's probably in his late teens, early 20s, okay?

But we're going to see that definitely he was so handsome that he has caught the eye of Potiphar's wife, okay?

And so we pick it up in verse 7. And after a time, his master's wife, see, it doesn't even say her name.

We know Potiphar, okay? But it doesn't say her name. It's his wife. You know, it's just relaying just as her station in life, okay?

Master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife,

Behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

He's not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything back from me except you.

So there's actually two things that he's not, don't touch my food, don't touch my wife, okay?

Because you are his wife. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

And as she spoke to Joseph, I'm sorry, and as she spoke to Joseph day after day,

he would not listen to her, to lie beside her, or to lie with her.

Going all the way back to the rabbis understand that Genesis 19 is just charged with erotic energy,

as the rabbis say.

But here we are dealing with just straight-up seduction, the attempt at just straight-up seduction.

Joseph says that he cannot lie with her for two reasons.

The first is because he is his master's servant, all right?

He said his master has not entrusted her to him, and this should be obvious to us,

but what Joseph is saying is that I have no right to insult my master, okay?

I'm not going to violate the trust that your husband has given to me.

But then he speaks also as a son of the covenant, all right?

He speaks as a son of the covenant because he says,

how then can I do this great wickedness against God?

Now, I'm going to say something this morning that maybe not everybody's going to do cheers about this morning,

but the Scripture's understanding of adultery is far more severe

than I think even most evangelical Christians often think that it is.

We have a pretty good consciousness and memory of sin, okay?

And they are enumerated in the Scriptures as they're laid out,

and it's easy for us to mention adultery as a list of sins, okay?

But in a biblical worldview does not merely consider adultery as a sin among other sins, okay?

It considers adultery as the pragmatic sin, okay?

By which one violates, one repudiates, and one tramples on the covenant of God.

Marriage is a covenant.

Marriage is a covenant.

And this is increasingly...

...wedding ceremony. And the origin of the wedding ceremony is a communal event. It's a communal event in which sanction, listen, sanction is being given to these two who are being married, okay? That's why in the ceremony it should say, if anyone has any reason why these two should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace, okay? That's because it means if no one does state a reason why these two should not, why it's unlawful for them to be married,

then the community itself, then the community itself, and especially the church is saying, it is right in the eyes of the Lord that these two should be married, okay? But then those who gathered at the wedding are witnesses to the exchanging, not of these promises of some aspirational nature, but of vows.

Vows that are sacred, vows that are holy, and vows that are to be unto each other, to be to each other until death do is part, to cleave to each other.

And it's a sexual monogamy that's expressed publicly to a central covenant that points to another covenant.

It points to an everlasting greater covenant that God makes with His children of Israel, but it points to a covenant that God has made with us through Jesus Christ.

The whole marriage thing, the whole marriage thing points to that, as Jesus comes for His bride in Revelation.

So, to commit adultery is not only to violate the covenant of marriage, it's to violate covenant.

To violate covenant.

To show yourself to be a covenant breaker, okay?

Joseph says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

Sinning against Potiphar is one thing.

Sinning against God is another.

That's what he's getting at.

Sinning against God is quite a different thing.

And Joseph articulates this on behalf of the faithful.

There's your uplifting message on marriage that not everybody's teaching today.

How about that?

And as she spoke, verse 10, to Joseph, day after day,

he would not listen to her.

Or lay beside her.

Or lay with her.

What this verse is, day after day, meaning is, she won't shut up.

Every chance she gets, I'm going to whisper in his ear.

I'm going after him.

My mind is made up.

He will cave eventually.

I need to wear a new outfit.

I need to put something else or a little less something else on and get Joseph's attention.

But she continues to whisper in his ear.

Listen, we hear things, right?

We hear things, but we also decide what we hear.

We decide what we hear.

We have a moral responsibility in terms of what we allow ourselves to contemplate.

We have a moral responsibility in terms of what we allow ourselves to contemplate.

It is one thing for her to say, Joseph, come lie to me.

Lie with me.

It's another thing to enjoy being asked.

Ouch.

I just like the fact she's flirting with me at the office.

There's nothing going to come from it.

She just paid me a little attention.

Every man needs a little bit of that, right?

Let me tell you the road it leads down.

Let me tell you the road it leads down.

Your mind starts going to places and you start having these events that take place in you.

It's only in my mind.

It's only in my mind.

But then guess what?

It's not good enough to only have it in your mind.

Now I've got to act it out.

I've got to find a place where I can act this out because just thinking about it is not good enough anymore.

And we read, he says that he would not lay beside her.

What does lay beside her?

What does that mean?

That's a term where it's talking about here is the implication of sex.

That means they could be a bit...

that means it I just...

I always think...

All we were doing was sitting in the car with the dark lights. Next thing I know. Next thing you know? How about saying no before the next thing you know? You know, that... and so, this is... this is a... Joseph does not allow himself to be alone with her. That's what he... that's what it's just getting at. I'm not gonna put myself in this position. That is the mindset I try my very best to have always

operated the ministry. The ministry God has given with me. I will not have made a covenant with my wife. I've made a covenant with my elders to our church. I will not be alone in a car, in a place with another woman who is not my wife. Okay? Not my wife. I mean, that's just... I'm not gonna go... she knows that. I mean, okay, if it's my daughter, okay, my mother-in-law, okay, I'll get permission from her. You know, I have... I had somebody drive...

I saw you with... it was my mother-in-law. Trust me, we're good. We're good, okay? And I get... I get people to ask these ridiculous questions. I mean, seriously. Well, what about this? There's a reason why... listen, there is a glass windows on my office. Okay? I will not meet unless... unless Casey or Taylor or somebody's there in the office. I'm not gonna meet with you if you're a woman. I don't... I'm not gonna give the implication. I'm not gonna give...

because here's the thing. The elders can't stand up for me when they don't see what happens behind closed doors. I know your heart, but I can't say what he did or didn't do. I can't say. And I get people to throw these ridiculous things out to me. Well, Brother Curtis, what if... what if you were driving home, it was late in the evening, you're headed home, it's a torrential downpour, torrential, and you see a young woman, she's on the side of the road, she obviously needs help.

What are you going to do there? You're just gonna pass her by? No, I will get out of my car. I will find out what her situation is. If she needs to go somewhere, I will give her my car and let her take it. Okay, I'll have my wife come pick me up. You will come out better. You will come out better on that end if you operate with that mindset. Trust me.

Even if it's just so innocent and nobody meant anything by it. Men, if you are married, protect the covenant of your marriage. Women, if you are married, just flirting with this man, you know what?

Let's send signals to Him.

And it also speaks very poorly of the commitment that you've made to your husband.

And you know what?

What about us? We've been divorced and now we're remarried.

Grace! Grace!

I cannot unscramble eggs.

I'm not Jesus.

Jesus can unscramble eggs.

Therefore, if you're in that situation, from this day forward, do what's right in the eyes of the Lord.

Honor the covenant you have made.

Honor the commitment you have made from this day forward.

Can we do that?

Okay.

Then we're moving in the right direction.

Where were we?

Verse 11.

But one day, of course, but one day when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men was in the house, Joseph, why didn't you turn?

And there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me.

But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got outside the house.

As soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside the house, she called to the men of the household and said to them,

See, he, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us.

He came in to lie with me.

And I cried out with a loud voice.

As soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got outside of the house.

Then she laid up his garment beside her until his master came home.

She told him the same story saying, the Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us came in and laughed at me.

But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried,

robe or the inner garment, okay? And so men in the ancient world, they either wore an outer robe, which was a cloak, you know, a robe of some kind, and they wore an inner garment, which was like a loin cloth, okay? That was just from, that helped from the immodesty that could happen from the flowing garments, okay? Let's just say that, okay? But it's unclear as to which garment she grabbed. But in the context, it's clearly a garment that suggests sexual intent.

Let's just say that. Let's just say that. That's what it says. But Joseph does what we exactly hoped he would do. He gets out of the house, but we wish he would have gotten out of the house with all of his clothing, right? You know, Joseph. Clothing. The coat of many colors. The garment that's in the hand of Potiphar's wife, okay? Clothing is a problem for Joseph, okay?

And so it's a symbol of a larger reality because we're not finished with that with Joseph because when he's going to be blessed by Pharaoh, Pharaoh gives him the finest linens. Puts the finest linens on him so that anybody who sees him knows he's a man of great stature. He's a man to be reckoned with, okay? Just as the coat of many colors was a sign of his father's favor. But she says in here, she says, see! See! Not here. See!

He brings the accusation to a whole new level. See! Look what I got. Look what I've got, okay? And so, but notice what she says, that he brought, he brought, he has brought among us a Hebrew, he, meaning Potiphar. Potiphar, okay?

He brought among us a Hebrew. This is Adam. This is Adam saying, that woman you gave me has caused me to, has caused this whole thing, you know, that whole thing.

So she is saying that my husband is partly responsible for this. That's what she's saying. You know, he has brought this Hebrew among us to laugh at us, okay?

What's that mean? That verb, it could be translated to make sport of us. To play with us, okay? It's a toy with us. It's an insidious accusation.

And the rabbis of this time believe that she is putting on her husband the responsibility for the sexual temptation that drove her to Joseph.

It's his fault. He shouldn't have brought such a handsome man in here. That well-built man. What are you thinking?

That's what she's saying. Why did you bring him in here? But she tells a lie according to how things happen.

She grabs him by the garment and cries out, but she tells the story the other way around. Oh, no, no, no. He came out.

And the story she tells suggests that when, and that implies that the garment was taken off, was taken off willingly.

The garment's just lying here beside me. Look what he left. He took it off on his own.

Making it very, very plausible that this young Hebrew is a rapist.

That's what she's getting at. Tried to come in and rape her.

As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke,

This is the way your servant treated me. His anger was kindled.

And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison.

A place where the king's prisoners were confined and was there in prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in prison.

And whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.

And the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge,

because the Lord was with him.

And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Wherever Joseph was, whatever Joseph did, it succeeds.

It succeeds.

And we need to know that Moses tells us, inspired by the Holy Spirit,

it's not just because of Joseph's innate ability to just rise to whatever circumstances placed before him.

No, it's because the favor of the Lord rested on him.

God's favor rested on him.

God's good favor rested upon him.

And what's happening here is that in the world view of those who observe what's going on through Joseph...

can i do this great wickedness and sin against yahweh yahweh not just some generic god this

whole god thing what you what you guys think about not merely against it no yahweh yahweh

the god who made covenant with abraham he is a hebrew and he makes it very very clear it's not

just a a god who who is who is with joseph no it's the god of the hebrews i can't i can't i can't do

this great sin against the god of the hebrews the god who claims he is the one and only true god

that that god rather than these other guys that the hebrew that the egyptians uh bow down to

including pharaoh who who considers himself a deity okay but again there's more here than just meets

the eye because pharaoh's behavior i'm sorry potiphar potiphar's behavior is not what we would

expect you know you read the story it's not what we would expect we would expect that if indeed he

believed that his his wife that joseph tried to rape her his penalty would be immediate execution

and not imprisonment if i'm in charge and somebody came up and said something against my wife guess

what it's good to be in charge you're gone you're done but this is the one of the big problems when

we're reading the scripture and we come across a word though like prison or like jail okay that

appears sometimes for instance in the book of acts in the ancient world uh the ancient world did not

have penitentiaries okay the ancient world had no concept of this enduring uh imprisonment for the

penalty uh for for criminal acts it simply was not in the world view of the ancient world

so what are jails what are prisons prisons are places where people are kept for one of two reasons

most commonly was to pay a debt to pay a debt and one is simply imprisoned until that debt can be paid

and you think well what's the logic in that you know and you think about even britain in the 17th and

18th century where they would have debtor's prison and so what sense does it make to take someone who

owes you a debt and put them into into debtor's prison where's the where's the the mindset but

because by definition in prison they can't make any money so how in the world are you going to get paid

back by putting somebody into debtor's prison it is because effectively it's a ransom and the mindset

is you put someone into debtor's prison not because you think all of a sudden they're going to make

some money and be able to pay you back but because someone loves them enough to pay that debt for them

and that's basically it and so that helps us understand that that why ransom language becomes

so much more clear and so much more powerful in the new testament and it begins to we see the same

models in the old testament so someone could be put in prison to pay a debt but that's not joseph's

situation all right okay the other reason you could be put into prison is to await you await a trial

that's the apostle paul in the book of acts okay to await a trial and if you're awaiting a trial

uh prison is not a long-term affair okay normally it's a short-term affair and under until the trial is

held and and in the ancient world that often led to capital punishment or some sort of corporal punishment

or maybe there was some kind of sanction that was given and then the matter would be over and the

idea that someone would would be put into prison to pay off a debt to society the way that we think

about in misdemeanors and felonies okay that was not present in the ancient world okay so the point

here of genesis 39 is that potiphar takes action against joseph but it's clear that he's not buying his

wife's story i don't buy it why joseph had proven himself to be a man of not just integrity great

integrity and he saw the hand in the favor of the lord on him okay because if you really believe that

that this man was trying to rape his wife you know this is not something that the captain of the guard

someone who's in pharaoh's army would carry out he would he would not just simply put him into prison

okay but this is a holding place for joseph it's not what we would think of in place

Both of those guys are out within three days, one one way, one the other way, right?

Okay, but they're out within three days.

So this is a boy who was thrown into a pit, all right?

And then he had no way out, no way out except for the rescue that God would provide

in the form of the Ishmaelite Midianite slave traders, okay?

But God has a plan for him.

God's got a plan for him.

But now he's in the roundhouse, as it's described, okay?

He's in prison, a place where people are kept until trial.

And that's really just an acronym because when it says he's in prison awaiting a trial,

he's just really awaiting Pharaoh's decision.

That's what the whole trial was.

You don't really get it, whatever Pharaoh decides.

Or maybe one of Pharaoh's agents, okay?

That's what this is getting.

But it looks like in this passage that Joseph is here for some time.

And it looks like Potiphar putting him into this prison is really only dealing by this situation

by a half measure, okay?

Because, again, if he would believe that he was a Hebrew rapist, he would deal with him

very, very differently.

And that's why, again, Joseph will say later on, what you meant for evil, God meant for good.

So now he's in an Egyptian prison.

And he's in charge.

It's crazy.

He's in charge.

Not just a little bit.

He's in charge of everything.

He puts him completely in charge.

He becomes the sole agent wherever he shows up, right?

It's just amazing, okay?

He's the sole agent when he goes to Potiphar's house.

Now he goes to prison.

He's the sole agent.

And this is what he's lining him up for the relationship that he's going to have with

Pharaoh, right?

In just a few chapters or a few verses down the road.

Verse 23, the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's

charge because the Lord was with him.

And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

The hand of blessing was so clear that people wanted to put him in charge.

People wanted to be near him and people wanted to put him in charge.

I mean, even as the people in Beersheba wanted to be near Isaac, okay?

Even as Laban wanted to be near to Jacob, this is what's taking place.

People wanted to be near Joseph.

And so we see that there's more than just meets the eye here in Genesis 39.

And when you read it, it's just part of a, when you just read it, it's just part of a

story, you know, try to think how, how to say this, which it, because that's one of the

ways the evangelicals were trained in a good way that has a bad effect.

And I mean it by this.

I want to say this to those of us who are parents.

We want to tell our children and teach our children to know and to love the stories of

the Bible, of the scripture.

And that's exactly the way that we should tell our children the stories, when they are

children, when they are children.

The problem is these are not just stories.

They are conveyors of a larger narrative, okay, of which there are individual parts, okay?

But taken, if you just take this little simple story out of the larger part, out of the larger

narrative, okay, it just makes these things little morality tales or sweet little sentimental

biblical stories, okay?

We have to put them back into context when we tell the stories that life and death are at

stake.

Faithfulness and unfaithfulness are at stake, okay?

So the question is, you know, how, how do we do that when you have a Bible storybook and

you're trying to help your children understand?

Clearly, you're not going to give them all the details of what Potiphar's wife is trying

to do to, to Joseph and what she had planned.

But at some point, you have to realize, we're all going to have to realize what's at stake

here.

And at some point, when the child is transitioning into maturity, the child, just as the children

of Israel would have been taught, would have to be shown, I know this is what you remember,

but it's not at all that you remember when you were four.

And you're not four anymore.

You need to understand what's at stake.

That's why we teach the scripture as a whole and not just cute.

This is here for you, daughter, son, for you to understand. Not so that you will know who Joseph was, but so that you will know who you are as a son or a daughter of the covenant.

You are a son and a daughter of the covenant.

Why is that so important?

Because all I read here is just a story about Joseph.

No, it's bigger than that.

It's bigger than that.

Joseph says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against Yahweh?

The one true God.

You know, that's the whole thing with my marriage.

With my marriage.

I can have a lot of reasons to go astray.

I don't feel fulfilled.

I don't feel abandoned.

I feel this.

I feel that.

I feel this.

I can make this all work out.

I can go find another job.

I've got the only job in America where if I have an affair, I lose my job.

Does a police officer, a politician, or a teacher?

Usually not.

No.

But I should lose my job.

But I can't do that.

Yes, it would break my wife's heart.

And yes, it would break my daughter's heart.

Yes, that would be devastating.

But I cannot do this great wickedness and sin against my God.

I can't.

He has been too good to me.

He has been too good to you.

How can you turn your mind, how can you turn your life on all that God has done for you for this moment of what?

That's going to bring about, that's going to make you whole.

That's going to fulfill you, young man, young woman.

That right there.

That made your whole life.

It made my moment.

Your life is not that moment.

Your life is greater than that moment.

Your life is much more than that moment.

And so, and listen, the situation that Joseph finds himself in is a situation that every man, every young man will find himself in.

In one way or another, in his life.

And also, by contrast, every young woman will find herself having to make those decisions, having to make those choices.

And of course, not just the count, there are a whole many different dynamics in different parts of this.

But it's the same covenantal issue.

It's a covenantal issue.

You have made a covenant with God.

And when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that he is the new covenant that has come to dwell inside of you.

And so, that's why you don't make these choices and do these things and make these decisions that you used to do.

You know, finally, as we look at, as we look at, wow, we're getting in way early today, aren't we?

I should just keep talking for a while.

No, just kidding.

Just kidding.

As we look at Genesis 39, seriously, let's put ourselves in the position of Joseph for a second.

Not in the position of prison or not so much that he's in charge.

But maybe, let's put ourselves in the position of Joseph of what he escaped.

Okay?

What he escaped.

And maybe the easiest way to do that is to contrast him with David.

Okay?

And David was tempted to commit adultery.

And he did.

And he did.

Okay?

And that adultery, and I know every major sin is entangled with other sins.

And because that leads into second-hand murder of our husband.

And then a cover-up and all the rest of this stuff.

And we know that God forgave David.

Okay?

We know that God forgave David.

And we know that God has even promised to establish the throne of David forever.

Okay?

And we know that the Messiah, none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, is the one who comes and sits on David's throne.

David has an honored name.

But I just want you to consider this this morning.

David, David had to remember this the rest of his life.

He had to remember it.

David had to live with the regret.

Not of what might have been, but what was.

He had to live with that regret for the rest of his life.

The fact that we are talking about David's sin this morning shows that we are still talking about David's sin this morning.

Laying it out.

In contrast, we're talking this morning about what Joseph did not do.

What he did.

Joseph was never confronted by God's prophet who said, you are that man. You are the man who committed adultery. He escapes without his garment. And we're going to see this. This is all part of God's plan. And for Joseph to end up where the Lord wants him to be. But just think about the difference in a moment between Joseph and David and consider how in this sense they are remembered in this sense so very differently.

So very differently. Because of their different responses to the same temptation. Are you with me? The same temptation. And so for us, instead of focusing on the human vulnerability when things say, why does this happen to me? Why does this happen to me? You know, Joseph focused on the divine sovereignty. I think I can minister in jail. I could probably be useful for God right here.

God's going to use me. God's going to use me. Right here in this situation. Because whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. And so what a journey Joseph is on. He goes from his parents to the pit, to Potiphar, to prison, to the palace. That's five Ps, man. I should just preach on that. There we go. That was good, wasn't it? No? Okay.

Okay. So he transitions from all of this right here. And so he's on this journey. And so I want to encourage you. And really I do want to wrap up right here with this. I want to encourage you to do two things. To do two things this morning. And they're both summed up by one word. Run. Run. Run.

I'm serious. You run from sin. You run to the Lord Jesus. You run from sin. And you run to the Lord Jesus. We talk about this so many times.

Sometimes, you know, God is not impressed with how closely you can see the line that he does not want you to cross. And watch how close you can get to it. And not really get over it. I'm dealing with that with my three-year-old right now.

Carolina said, don't touch that. What did I say was going to happen to you if you touched that? That's us. That's us. Praise the Lord Jesus. God has brought definition in our lives. And we see the line.

And because we see the line. We should run. But it's not just about running from. Because you have to know what to run to.

And some of us, some of you, especially you younger people, you need to run from some of these relationships you are in.

You need to walk away from some of these relationships that you are in. I mean, the people that are dragging you away from the Lord.

Young, you know, young lady, you got a young man that you're interested in. If he is not leading you to the Lord, if he does not cause you to run to the Lord Jesus, run away from him.

Maybe God has, maybe you will be with him. Maybe he is the Brad Pitt of your life, okay? But maybe God has to work on him. Not Brad Pitt. Okay, somebody else.

Denzel Washington. I like Denzel. I've been watching Denzel a lot lately. I just like Denzel.

I don't know. I don't think he's a believer, but I sure wish he was. You know, he's just cool. He's just awesome.

He might be. I don't know. I shouldn't say that.

But if he's that one, maybe God has to work on him before he really gives him to you.

Young man, you think you found the right girl? She wants nothing to do with the things of the Lord?

Guess what? God needs to, you still be a witness to her.

But you don't have to be a witness at your car at 12 at night with the lights off.

I mean, you keep going.

Can I get a witness? Yeah.

Stop. Yeah.

I mean, we have to walk away.

We either trust God to supply our needs, our desires, or we don't, right?

If you trust God,

Great book. Great allegory. But there's, in the story, the chief character's name is, his name is Christian. And he's leaving this town. It's called the City of Destruction. And in there, he sees the town. It's smoldering behind him. And he's got all these people. He has to run through this very narrow gate. Does this sound familiar? He's got to run through a narrow gate to escape the city. And yet, all these people behind him are screaming at him and crying for him to come back. Help us.

And he knows it's not his place. And he knows it's not his place to go and help them. But what does he do? He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to be distracted. So he puts his fingers in his ears as he continues to run through the narrow gate. And he keeps screaming, life, life, eternal life, life, life. Sometimes in your world, you have to just put your fingers in your ear and I can't hear you anymore.

You're getting some information from some bad places and you're allowing it to seep from here to here to here. And you're walking in ways and places you don't need to walk.

Life, life, eternal life, life, life, life, eternal life. Don't do it to your spouse. I'm kidding. And kids, don't do it to your mom and dad either.

Life, life, life, life, eternal life. Wow, we digress.

All right. So how do we tie this thing up? Come on up, worship team.

I seriously hope and pray that the lessons that the Lord is trying to teach us through just the man of integrity and the life that Joseph led are lessons we can grab a hold of.

It's work, but it's worth it.

Sometimes you might lose favor, but it's worth it.

Sometimes you might not get the recognition that you think you deserve, but it's worth it.

It's worth it.

It's always the right time to do the right thing.

It's always the right time to do the right thing.

What's the right thing?

What do I do?

Just do the next right thing.

That thing that's right in front of you that you know without a shadow of a doubt God's calling you to do.

Start there.

Start there and let him fill in step 7, 8, 9, 10.

May we be men and women of integrity in such a manner that as the world looks at us, they don't see us.

First of all, they see favor.

That might bring about jealousy.

That favor may not come in worldly things.

Let me tell you that.

That's not a prosperity thing.

That favor is not a prosperity thing.

The hand of God, the blessing of God, may be the fact that you have so much that you're dealing with.

You have so much that's piled on you.

How is that fair?

Because my God sees me through all things.

My God is faithful.

Even when I'm faithless, He gives me faith when I need faith.

He gives me strength when I need strength.

He gives me just what I need at the right time.

But that was the 11th hour.

It was still within time, wasn't it?

He's an on-time God.

He's a faithful God.

May we lead a life in such that the favor of God, the blessings of God rest upon us.

That people are drawn to us and say,

I just want to spend some time with him or her.

I don't know why it is, but man, there's just something special.

There's something special about them.

And may we, in turn, when God gives us that blessing and that responsibility,

we always point, we always point, always point to the glory of the Lord.

For His glory and for His namesake.

I love you too much.

God meant for good. God meant for good. Let's stand. Thank you, Lord, that you are still in the business of changing our futures, changing outcomes, changing scenarios. But wherever you have us today, Lord God, wherever you have us planted today, I pray, Lord, that you would

just give us the peace to trust you. And give us the insight to see where your hand is leading as you guide us. Father, I just pray for those who are feeling overwhelmed.

Father, I just pray for those who are feeling overwhelmed.