Chapel with D.A. Carson – 2019 Spurgeon Lectures – Day 1

[Music] dr. Allen members of the faculty students it's a privilege and an honor to join you here at Mid Western I keep observing the list of faculty members whom I have known from other places and see that it is swelling with first class people and it's refreshing for me to see a seminary expanding and reaching out and multiplying the numbers of people who are being trained at a time in our country when most places are retrenching a wee bit now today and tomorrow I'm talking about preaching from narrative texts but instead of lecturing on the topic I'd rather do it so this morning I'm preaching from one Old Testament narrative text and tomorrow from one New Testament narrative text in a slightly curtailed fashion so that I can leave a little time at the end of each addressed to talk about what I've done so that you can see something of the mechanics and the decisions behind the actual preaching itself but we begin right away with the text Genesis 39 and if you want to prepare the way for tomorrow tomorrow is Genesis 20 so called doubting Thomas Genesis 39 and I shall begin by reading the entire chapter here then what Holy Scripture says now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt Potiphar an Egyptian who is one of pharaoh's officials the captain of the guard bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken in there the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master when his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him six and everything he did Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned from the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph the blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had both in the house and in the field so Potter far left everything he had in Joseph's care with Joseph in charge he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate now Joseph was well-built and handsome and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said come to bed with me but he refused with me in charge he told her my master does not concern himself with anything in the house everything he owns he has entrusted to my care no one is greater in this house than I am my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God and though she spoke to Joseph day after day he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her one day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside she caught him by his cloak and said come to bed with me but he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house when he saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house she called her household servants look she said to them this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us he came in here to sleep with me but I screamed when he heard me scream for help he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house she kept his cloak beside her until the master came home then she told him this story that Hebrew slave you brought came to me to make sport of me but as soon as I screamed for help he left his cloak behind me and ran out of the house when his master heard the story his wife told him saying this is how your slave treated me he burned with anger Josef's master took him and put him in prison the place where the Kings prisoners were confined but while joseph was there in the prison the Lord was with him he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden so the warden put Joseph in charge of all those who held those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there the warden paid no attention to anything under joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did this is the word of the Lord now let's begin by focusing on the center part of the chapter we work our way through some elements of the power of Joseph's temptation joseph's temptation was strong because it was subtle and flexible as far as we can tell he was about 17 when he was sold by his brothers into slavery and he did not become prime minister of Egypt or whatever we shall call him until he was in his mid-30s so he had 15 solid years of slogging he was sold in the marketplace as a slave it is overwhelmingly likely that he did not understand the language he did not get down there and find himself immediately put in charge of everybody he worked his way up learning the language doing the scut work in fact the Psalms say that they put his feet in irons but gradually the Lord was with him his trustworthiness counted and he became in effect the chief steward in the household and then the Masters attractive wife casts her eye on him put yourself in Joseph's place he has no prospects for marriage and he has the normal desires of any other young man he may even wonder if he plays his cards right if he couldn't get his freedom through the backdoor as it were Joseph was well-built and handsome we read verse six and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph it could alleviate his loneliness meet his physical needs confirmation that all was finally going well relief at his bleak marital prospects moreover if Joseph could not be coaxed perhaps he could be stormed so eventually despite the fact that she goes at him again and again she waits a time maybe she even arranged the time she waits a time when when they're truly alone in the house and in a hall in one play she tries to snooker him moreover Joseph's temptation was strong because it was persistent did you notice verse 10 though she spoke to Joseph day after day he refused to go to bed with her some people withstand temptations when their stark and sudden and a one-off but the nitty-gritty business of fighting temptation again and again and again and again empties you out it takes a lot of years for the water to cut the Niagara Gorge but with enough time the water cuts the stone with enough temptation repetitions people give in so humanly speaking how does Joseph respond let's consider some reasons why Joseph successfully resisted this temptation number one because of who he was note the reasoning of verses 8 & 9 a8 with me in charge he told her my master does not concern himself with anything in this house everything he owns he has entrusted to my care no one is greater in this house than I am his reasons for refusing were the very things that another person might have advanced for yielding I'm the greatest person in this house I can arrange for all the other servants to be down on the back for tea leaving us alone in private I can get away with it nobody will ever know my master trusts me so it's easy to pull the wool over his eyes in other words the facts themselves do not determine the outcome the facts used by a young man who is godly determined the outcome do you see he successfully resisted temptation because of who he was these very things that corrupt some stewards are used by him as an incentive for integrity you recall in Luke chapter 16 verse 1 the dishonor steward he he is dishonest and therefore he uses the Masters wealth correctly another person would have been in the same position and found the trust laid upon his shoulders to be adequate reason to stand up for what is right he recognized that one realm was close to him verse 9 my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife quite a number of years ago I was living in Cambridge England got to know a man we'll call him John John many years earlier had been a very brilliant student at the University of Edinburgh in medicine he was from a family with three older sisters a godly home and he was doted on as a boy and he was a good kid he got first-rate marks in medicine and became president of their Cu their equivalent of InterVarsity Christian Union he fell in love with and married a young woman from a Christian home as well and they went off to become missionaries in North Africa working in a leprous area as a doctor treating lepers after some years he moved to Cambridge which is when I got to know him and there he set up practice working toward consultancy status as specialist status in the United Kingdom and it wasn't long before the church asked him to join the elders board he had theological wisdom and experience and integrity and medical insight so that he could sometimes make discernment that others would not be able to deploy and then all of a sudden it was announced that he was leaving his wife and two kids and was shacking up with his secretary well the pastor spent time with him I spent time with him there was no turning him and eventually the divorce went through and and he moved up north to Newcastle or someplace and life went on about a year later I was with the pastor of the church we were driving somewhere to speak at a conference and I said okay now in retrospect what happened with John how do you process it he said well he said I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that he never was a Christian I said come ma leader of a Christian Union a missionary not just a missionary in some posh area but North Africa flies a leprous area did you say he's not a Christian where do you get that from of the wisdom that he's dispensed over the years in his role as an elder in this church he said no he said I've spent a lot of time with him and I've come to the conclusion that he has always done what he wanted to do I said unpack that for me well he said he wanted to be a doctor and he became a doctor he wanted to be a leader in a Christian organization he became a leader in a Christian organization he liked to lead and he was good at it he fell in love with the young woman and married her he went to North Africa because he was interested in public medicine that was his specialism and and leprosy is a public health disease he came back here and joined the church because that was his nucleus he's always done what he wanted to do I cannot find a major decision he has taken in his life where it cost him something to go the other way and then one day the time came when he saw a pretty skirt and he did what he always did he did what he wanted to do and so he finds it difficult to understand why anybody's challenging him and the more I thought about it the more I got to know John the more I became convinced the pastor was right he did what he wanted to do where was the evidence that even once he had taken up his cross at cost to follow Jesus where was the evidence that he denied himself to follow Jesus it was always doing what he wanted to do in other words the data here that Joseph faces do not compel going this way or that way rather he successfully resisted because of who he was number two he was prepared to call a spade a spade he was prepared to call sin sin look again at verse 9 no one is greater than I my master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how then could I do such a wicked thing not a peccadillo not a momentary aberration not a weakness not daydreaming by spending time on porn recall romans 13 do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature the fact of the matter is that he had resolved in his mind that such contact was conduct was sinful and therefore he fought it the first place where you lose is by developing compromising terminology it's a peccadillo it's a weakness and moreover number three he feared God and saw the act with reference to him look at verse 9 again how then can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God not just sin against my employer or sin against you he saw the action with reference to God doesn't proverbs 9 remind us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear were told in first Peter in Psalm 36 when the psalmist talks about his revelation from God he says something quite striking I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked there is no fear of God before their eyes consider another passage that I have mentioned often I find it of striking insight into the nature of sin in Psalm 51 when David is contemplating his sin in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite and confessing in shame and degradation his adultery and murder he says chapter 51 verse 4 against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight and there's a part of me that wants to say come on David you've got to be kidding you surely sinned against Bathsheba you seduced her you sinned against her husband yeah Adam bumped off you sinned against the military High Command you corrupted them you sinned against your family you betrayed them you sinned against the whole nation because as chief magistrate you're supposed to uphold justice and you have the cheek to say against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight it's hard to think of anybody that he didn't sin against and yet in the most profound sense David has it exactly right what makes sin sin is that it's an offense against God and David failed horribly in this respect while Joseph called sin sin and made integrity his ally number 4 Joseph knew not to play with fire he resisted successfully because he knew not to play with fire look at verse 10 one day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside she caught him by his cloak and said come to bed with me but he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house that's verse 11 verse 10 sets the stage for such resolute conduct though she spoke to Joseph day after day he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her in other words he did not take the stance that says a little titillation won't do any harm I wonder how close I can get to the fire without getting burned Oh we'll play around a neck but we won't take our clothes off we'll play around a neck and maybe take some clothes off but nothing below the waist yeah I've seen them all if you don't to get burned you don't play with fire the person drawn to holiness will not try to see how close he can get to wickedness when I was a student in your place but at another school in Canada we had a pastor come in to teach us pastoral theology his name was Donald Loveday he was a good pastor a solid steady man faithful a good preacher excellent in his personal relationships a man of integrity but I have to tell you he was one of the most boring lectures I have ever stumbled across I'm sure you don't have any of those here but we had one or two in Toronto and it was partly his manner of proceeding that today we'll talk about hospital visitation number one wear soft shoes number two don't sit on the bed number three come prepared with a Bible verse or two number four and eight 25 26 of these things did he expected us to regurgitate you know now I'm the son of a man's my self I didn't need somebody to tell me I'm not supposed to wear jackboots in a hospital you know I didn't need somebody to tell me I mustn't do cartwheels on the bed when somebody's lying on it this this was this was not very stimulating it was something we endured in order to get the credit at the end of the course but I shall never forget his lecture on counseling women number one stay behind the desk number two if she starts to cry let her number three stay behind the desk number four if she continues to cry pass her a box Kleenex number five stay behind the desk 27 points and every second point was stay behind the desk in its own way it was effective a few years later I became pastor of a Baptist Church in Vancouver my first week there a woman came plopped herself in front of me burst into tears and I could see scrolling up and before me in a vision this was in the day before there were computer screens but I saw them I something stay behind the desk a behind the desk you see Joseph knew not to play with fire let me tell you if you're playing with pornography you're in big trouble already number five Joseph was more concerned for his purity than for his prospects verses 11 and 12 he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house he wasn't stupid he had to know what could that what that could turn into and it did but he was more concerned for his purity than for his prospects he would rather be thought an adulterer and not be one than be one and not get caught his flight saved the integrity but lost the freedom a coward's flight reverses these priorities but now let me come to something larger some ways of God surrounding this temptation two points before I articulate them look how the chapter is put together so far I focused all of our attention on the central verses but it's really important to see how the chapters put together and it's put together with an inclusive that is to say it begins and ends roughly the same way at the beginning verses 1 to 6 Joseph is sold into slavery owned now by Potiphar but we're told verse 2 the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered he lived in the house of his Egyptian master the Lord gave him success and everything he did Joseph found favor in his eyes and so on and then at the end of the chapter he's now in prison but even in prison he gains the reputation for integrity for righteousness such that he becomes a steward in in in in in prison a turnkey used by the master of the prison the warden of the prison has the kind of aid and help and the same language is used 20 while Joseph was there in the prison the Lord was with him he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden so the warden put Joseph in charge 23 the warden paid no attention to everything under joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did the same vocabulary the same experience the same blessing of God what must you learn from this God often chooses to bless us in difficult circumstances raised it rather than to place us in happier ones don't you think that Joseph when he was a slave and Potiphar's house asked for the Lord to free him steady ends up in prison don't you think that Joseph in prison asked for the Lord to free him didn't didn't he cry out on occasion Lord I have tried to be faithful and this is what you do to me at least I was chief steward in Potiphar's house here I'm in jail a turnkey but God often chooses to bless us in difficult circumstances rather than to place us in happier ones you will find that to be true in the ministry sometimes the Lord places us in a really healthy growing responsive Church and sometimes he gives us a handful of really obstreperous deacons a couple of really crabby old crones a number of gossips massive prayerlessness now let the Lord bless you there he may bless you with some difficult church discipline he may bless you by giving you ten years of this before he moves you elsewhere 10 years in which you become a broken pastor but you've learned humility and insight God often chooses to bless us in difficult circumstances rather than giving us happier ones you didn't choose to lose your baby but sometimes that's the sphere of the Lord's blessing and that's the point that is made by the inclusion at the front end in the back end of the pasture you cannot preach this chapter without observing that structure and deriving the pastoral point but second God's providence was working behind the scenes to bring about the creation of a nation the preservation of the Messianic line now methodologically what you need to be asking yourself is this what on earth is this chapter doing here what would be lost from the book of Genesis if it were to disappear why is it needed why is God included it and to answer that question you need to see what comes immediately before and what comes immediately after then to expand your vision a little more and ask yourself besides linking 38 and 40 we'll see how in a moment what what's it contributing to the book of Genesis to the storyline well clearly 39 is in some way a foil for 38 or conversely 38 is a foil for 39 in 39 you find Joseph in slavery acting faithfully in the sexual arena in 38 Judah in freedom is acting unfaithfully and sleeping with his stepdaughter so there's a foil that's not a not uncommon structure in narrative texts you have something back-to-back with something else that is its opposite and the contrast to provide some clarity but clearly 38 39 also prepares the way for the narrative and 40 we've now finally got Joseph in jail and because he's in jail he is there when the Pharaoh's Butler and Baker show up apparently having crossed the bad temper of the Pharaoh and and then they have dreams and Joseph is is enabled by God to interpret the dreams and one of them is promised freedom and the other is promised to no mineus death and it takes place as Joseph predicted and of course all of this is possible because of the setup in in chapter 39 that's what gets him to prison Joseph doesn't know that's what's going to happen when he goes to prison he doesn't know that's what's going to happen when he sold to the Midianites but that's what's happening in fact after he is given a happy prediction to the butler he tells the butler you know when you get restored remember me to Pharaoh because it's unjust that I should be here and we're told that two more years passed by before Pharaoh had his dream during that time what was going through Joseph's mind I wonder is there any end to this anywhere but yet this is the setup that leads to Joseph's becoming prime minister of Egypt and because of that Joseph's entire family is spared famine because the famine in the Middle East spreads from Egypt right through to the eastern end of the Mediterranean and to find food and so escaped starvation the brothers come down with their mules their asses to find fuel and food from Joseph's and all of this because Joseph went to prison and because of this at the end of the chapter of the final chapters of the book because of this eventually the family is secured in Egypt and the promise of a lion from the tribe of Judah is offered in chapter 49 and Joseph himself has lived long enough to be able to say to his brothers in Chapter 50 19 and 20 when you sold me into slavery you intended it for evil but God intended it for good not only to save many people alive but but to save the family line that brings about the promised seed of Abraham and thus the reason you're sitting in Chapel today in Kansas City the reason you've been redeemed oh I know it's the plan of God God wasn't going to let his plan fall to the ground by humanly speaking the reason why you're here is because Joseph kept his zipper up isn't that striking now you have to remember such storylines as that of Esther where Mordecai says to her who knows but that you've been raised to the kingdom for such a time as this and understand this that that if you fail in this respect and chickened out and don't act the part of courage then God will find some other way to raise up and protect his people so also here if if Joseph had failed it's not as if God's entire purposes purposes in redemptive history would have wiped out no of course not God has his plans but humanly speaking at the human level of perception the way the events were triggered by events which were triggered by events which were triggered by events Joseph was the interpreter of Pharaoh's dream because he was in prison and he was in prison because he kept his if ur up and that's why Jesus was born and you are redeemed you cannot adequately treat this chapter without seeing that although it is a narrative of temptation and how to beat it it fits into the Bible's storyline not only within this canonical book but within the Pentateuch getting the family down to Egypt sets things up for the book of Exodus you can't leave Egypt until you're in Egypt this is a setup for the book of Exodus and with the Exodus the Sinai I code the giving of the law and the promise to return to the land of Canaan and take over the promised land and on and on and on with all of the history of the kings and the failures the building of the temple its destruction until in the fullness of time you turn one more page and read the words the origin of Jesus Christ the son of Abraham the son of David now let me offer a few reflections now not exactly on the text itself but on how to preach from narrative texts a few in this case which is seven unlike Peter who says a few which is eight number one this all has to do now with preaching narrative texts number one make sure you tell the story it's a question of literary genre t'v passage and you make it sound exactly the way you would if you were preaching from Romans you're forgetting that you're dealing with different kinds of text with your preaching from apocalyptic literature make sure you you solve the colorful symbolism the extravagant language the hyperbolic expressions and so on I love preaching apocalyptic passages in university missions these days you know why because today's generation of students even though they're biblically illiterate they love images so the verbal images that apocalyptic casts up resonate with their love for fantasy shock vision and so on but that's different from working through the logic of Romans nine to eleven or the way you handle proverbs or the way you handle narrative if you're going to preach from narrative make sure at some point as part of the exercise that you tell the story number two make sure you do more than tell the story in other words every sermon needs to have a burden it needs to have a point needs to have direction it needs to have a message and that means shaping it in such a way that you're not just telling the story all over again I have heard some preachers who think they're doing expository preaching a narrative text when basically they're just reading through the text and basically saying what the text says using slightly different words well it's better than not working through the text but not by much so make sure you're doing more than tell the story what in particular number three make sure your narrative text gets tied to the surrounding text and perhaps to the book which means anchoring it in biblical theology and even to the Canon as you anchor it to the surrounding book and to the Canon you will find ways that bring you to Jesus in other words it's not an independent narrative it's a narrative that's part of a book that's part of a Canon and tracing out those lines bring you back to Jesus and the gospel number four put it a slightly different way make sure people see what would be lost from the book if your narrative texts were not there in every passage it's worth asking the question but in narrative texts is particularly urgent to ask the question what would be lost in this case from the book of Genesis from the Pentateuch from the Canon itself if this chapter were gone do you see and it's easy to articulate once you've asked the question well you'd lose the setup for chapter 40 you lose the foil for chapter 38 but you'd also lose something of God's providential ways in in bringing his people down to Egypt and saving them from starvation and setting up the account of the exodus and and and and preserving the family line Abraham's line and his seed that brings us to Jesus of Nazareth II that the savior of the world do you see you'd lose all of that somehow it wouldn't make sense it wouldn't go here number 5 the sermon outline may but does not have to follow the narrative of the text the sermon outline may but does not have to follow the narrative the text so long as the narrative of the text is clearly developed now clearly this time I began with the middle so I was not following the narrative of the text in my sermon outline I started with the middle then I went to both ends then I went to what the passage is doing in the broader sweep oh it could have been done another way but I wanted to end with a broad sweep that takes us to Jesus of Nazareth and the cross of the gospel but I didn't want to lose the emphasis on sexual fidelity and integrity of life and faithfulness before God so the question arises how do you put it together so that people see what the narrative of the passage is but not necessarily and simply with Joseph in prison being a nice boy doo-doo-doo-doo see and so the sermon outline may but does not have to follow the narrative of the text so long as the narrative of the text is itself clearly delineate it's at some point during the course of the passage I think even though I began with the middle of the chapter all of you have followed this narrative clearly enough that you could go and summarize it without any difficulty whatsoever now in tomorrow's passage we will do it differently we will follow the outline of the passage in the outline of the sermon number six introductions to narrative texts may simply plunge into the narrative that's what I did this time introductions to narrative text may simply begin by plunging into the narrative text people get hooked on narrative you start telling a story and people listen you don't have to give a huge amount of thought to how you can get people's attention just just start telling the story do to do do you see and people people are hooked by narrative on the other hand it's not implausible or irresponsible to begin adjacently to begin tangentially to begin somewhere off site and set up some questions that the narrative begins to answer and we'll see something of that tomorrow finally never forget you're preaching a sermon this is a sermon not an art form people need to hear the word of God let us pray we bless you Almighty God that in your most holy word you have given us so many different kinds of literature genealogies and laments songs of praise and prayers proverbs parables letters apocalyptic simple narratives and all of them have their own ways under your good hand to call forth repentance and faith to make their appeals to give their instruction Oh Lord God we thank you for the wealth of Holy Scripture even on this dimension of things but as we seek to teach and preach your most holy word grant us Lord God more and more faithfulness and skill in so doing so that we may became become workers who need not be ashamed and in particular Lord God from this passage teach us afresh to pursue faithfulness and integrity in small matters to resist temptation resist the devil so that he might flee from us to love integrity and and godliness and righteousness to count sin as disgusting and evil to call a spade a spade and to see how it is an offense to you our maker and Redeemer and grant us faith to believe that in your wise Providence you are working all things together for good to the bringing about of the coming of Christ in times of old and now to bring about the return of Christ and so we join the church as we look back and as we look forward and cry with believers across every culture and country and century yes yes even so come Lord Jesus and whose name we pray amen

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Length: 45min 5sec (2705 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 22 2019