Genesis 38:9-39:23 - 2009 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] Heavenly Father we pray that you would give us ears to hear hearts to obey and to rejoice in what we read in the scripture for some if this is their first rendering or reading through the Bible already they have been shocked by what they read shot by the very people that they had always thought were heroes only to discover that the people that you use are ordinary people real people people that by your grace alone were chosen enabled and used for your glory and so father we pray that as we study we'd be encouraged to stay away from those examples that are obviously bad but to be encouraged Lord that even though we fail we're in good company as we read the Bible I pray father that you would deepen our understanding of the Word of God so that we might have a deeper understanding of the God of the word and we would be conformed to the truth that we read in Jesus name Amen Joseph was a teenager seventeen years old when the Lord began to speak to him through dreams he was so excited about those dreams and probably a bit naive because he told his brothers about the dream since it involved them hey guys the Lord spoke to me last night in a dream and I dreamed that we were all like a bunch of she's out in the field and yourseives rose up and bowed down to my sheaf in that cool and they didn't think it was that cool they hated him because of it his dad was willing to dismiss it but something got his attention it was the next dream that the Lord gave him it involved the Sun and the moon and the stars all bowing down and doing obeisance to Joseph's star and if this his dad Jacob gets a little miffed and says what you think your mother and I and all your brothers are gonna bow down to you and the answer to that would be ah huh you will for the Lord will take Joseph though a 17 year old boy now and raise him up to become the second-in-command under Pharaoh of Egypt he will be in charge of the food distribution for the entire world and Jacobs brothers first or our Joseph's brothers first and then Jacob his father himself last will all be bowing down to this young man but in Chapter 37 we also saw that Joseph was sold by his brothers to some Midianite traders who were going down to Egypt and then we started last week with chapter 38 and we saw the chapter 38 was like a contrast a departure a huge parenthetical statement in the story about Joseph in reading chapter 37 and coming to chapter 38 we go what's this all about because it seems not to fit the story is all about Joseph and then suddenly the camera shifts and we're reading about Judah his older brother the camera does shift because while Joseph is down in Egypt for about 20 years chapter 38 takes place it's about a 20-year span of time where we are able to see what's going on in the family of Jacob through his son Judah in particular to give us a contrast with what is happening with Joseph before we pick up where we left off just a word to those who are younger I say that I think it's always um better to say younger than young because people would say well what does young mean just younger people the Lord very often gets ahold of those who are young to do his work Joseph was a young man okay naive perhaps impressionable yes but maybe better because of that because when a person is young and impressionable then God is able to make an impression at a tender age when that person is responsive and receptive and not said in his or her ways and I find this often as a pattern in the Bible and I'm encouraged by it that's why I always get excited when somebody young I don't care how naive they might sound says I just want to serve the Lord and I believe God's going to use me to change the world I say great how can I help Samuel was just a kid younger than Joseph when the Lord spoke to him he had that heart to serve the Lord his mother and father had dedicated him to the Lord and and when I say dedicated I mean dedicated they dropped him off at the tabernacle when he was just a tyke and year by year mom and dad would go up to the tabernacle and give little Samuel a little coat priestly in turn coat to wear and it says that he ministered before the Lord wearing a linen ephod just a little kid and the Lord spoke to him Samuel Samuel in the middle of the night and finally he he said Here I am Lord your servant is listening then there was Jeremiah the Prophet before he was a prophet he was a kid and the Lord spoke to him and said I'm gonna use you to speak to the nations and being a kid Jeremiah said Lord I'm just a kid that was his excuse I'm too young I'm they're not gonna listen to me and God said Jeremiah quit saying I'm just a kid I'm speaking to you I will speak through you don't be afraid of the people's faces just go young impressionable Daniel was a kid when taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar 605 BC just a teenager but God used him so powerfully Timothy was obviously young because Paul had to write and say let no man despise your youth or your youthful age when a person as young as I mentioned they're impressionable and I say that's good because when God gets ahold of somebody in those tender years that means that person is able to give the Lord the very best of their life before they've wasted their life or half of it on themselves once God gets ahold of a person at a young age the rest of that person's life can be used for God's glory Dwight L Moody who came home from a crusade one night as the story goes walked in the door and his wife said well how many came to the Lord tonight sweetheart he said two and a half she said oh you you mean two adults and a child he goes no I mean two kids and one adult because he said the adult has already wasted half of his life in the devil's kingdom and now the rest of his life for the Lord but these little kids their whole life is ahead of them it is shown that most people come to no the Lord when they're younger in their teenage years I'd be interested in you might be interested to just sort of see how this works how many of you here tonight came to the Lord after age 25 raise your hands okay hands down how many of you came to know Jesus Christ before age 25 raise your hands you can see exactly what I'm talking about one person years ago released some statistics and trying to study this mathematically and said the odds of a person at age 25 coming there know Christ is 1 in 5,000 the odds of somebody at age 35 coming to know Christ is 1 in 25,000 at age 45 it's 1 in 60,000 at age 55 it's one in a hundred and twenty-five thousand and an exponentially decreases as the person gets older so that if you come to know Christ at age 75 it's like a sheer miracle it defies all odds it doesn't matter what age you come to know the Lord it's most important that you come to know him but Joseph 17 and so tender wanting to serve the Lord you'll see it in this story tonight if we ever get to the next chapter after chapter 38 but as I mentioned chapter 38 is here for two reasons number one to give us a contrast a contrast between Joseph who's introduced in the previous chapter and his story continues to the end contrast between Joseph and the rest of his family his brothers Judah especially it's the difference between black and white light and dark number two not just for contrast but to show us a continuance a continuance to give us the genealogical background to show the continuation of the lineage through Judah all the way to Jesus Christ and that will show up at a couple of different places one is at the end of The Book of Ruth the genealogical record is given of King David and then those same names will appear in Matthew chapter 1 in the genealogical table of Jesus Christ himself so for the sake of contrast and for the sake of continuation we have this story now I mentioned something just a few moments ago if you're reading the Bible for the very first time no doubt by now you're a bit stunned in fact shocked if if if just reading through it you discover man there's just a lot of junk in this book junk meaning sinfulness wicked people and yet these are the people in the Bible Judah who will become the leader of the tribe of Judah the kingly tribe from whom the Messiah will come my goodness this guy was a loser he made bad choices just Abraham Isaac Jacob the Bible shows plainly their failures so you might be shocked on one hand and I would say great if you are because if you have the idea that everybody in the Bible woke up every morning and polished his or her halo before they started the day and then they live the perfect life you would be mistaken these are real people and some of them are real bad Joseph wasn't he is the contrast to the rest not one bad thing is ever said of Joseph in the Bible the only other human being that that's true of is Daniel doesn't mean he was perfect doesn't mean he was sinless it's just that there's nothing notable like there is with the other people what we attempted to go through chapter 38 and ended at an odd place and so we'll pick it up at the same odd place we'll pick it up in verse 6 now let me give you the background so to read it all again Judah was out one day and he saw this gal cute he thought she was Canaanite it was his Canaanite cutie her name was schewe so he married his Canaan iqt and they had three boys one was named her er the other was named Onan and the other was named Sheila or as we should pronounce it Shayla because no boy wants it pronounced Sheila so these three boys my three sons they had now the first one died and were not told why it simply says in verse 6 Judah took a wife for her his firstborn her name was Tamar but her Judas firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord killed him we saw that last week doesn't say why the Lord killed him I kind of like that God isn't a gossip he just says killed him got my reasons he's dead move on and Judah said to Onan this is son number 2 go into your brother's wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your brother but own and knew that the air would not be his and it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife that he emitted on the ground lest he should give an heir to his brother and the thing which he did displeased the Lord therefore he killed him also now in reading this some have misinterpreted this to mean or have taken this to mean miss applied this to refer to birth control showing they think that any form of family planning birth control must be unbiblical because of this well that is so foreign to the meaning of the context the issue here is in family planning the issue here is family plotting you've got a boy who marries his brother's wife which was a custom that started in Mesopotamia was practiced in Asia and Africa and even later on made its way into the Mosaic law of ancient Israel so that the inheritance of a family and the name of a family would be preserved the brother would go have a child the child would be named after the dead brother and the family name and the inheritance would live on so what's up with Onan well notice the word win in that verse when he went in a better translation would be whenever he went in the idea is that he did it frequently it was a regular practice and the regular practice for him would fall under the medical term cleitus interruptus that is he wanted sexual gratification without parental responsibilities he hated his brother he didn't want to give a seed in his brother's name he didn't want his brother to have an heir because his brother the firstborn would pass on the family birthright to the son that he would produce he wants to produce the heir he wants the right of the firstborn he wants to be in charge if he has an heir he'll be rich her and bet her because he is earned by the way so everything's going to be just more than him so he doesn't want to pass on the genealogy of his brother because he's filled with self love instead of brotherly love and so we noticed that the Lord kills him the thing which he did displeased the Lord therefore he killed him also so now watch this - of Judas sons are dead doesn't say anything about him morning though I'm sure he was sorrowful for it I can't prove that though but notice now in verse 11 he's got like he's got a heads up now for this gal Judas said to Tamar his daughter-in-law remain a widow in your father's house until my son-in-law Shayla is grown he was young for he said lest he also die like his brothers and Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house so here's the deal he said you know sweetheart just go home and live with your dad now he's thinking in his mind no way is he gonna get my third she gonna get my third son because there's two down there's only one to go number one died with her number two died with her maybe he didn't know the whole situation at the time if number three gets married to her that could be the end of my family line so just go home and live with dad but he uses as an excuse well when my son gets older than then that's another story he had no intention of fulfilling that vow now it says Tamar went down and dwelt in her father's house now in the process of time the daughter of shua judah's wife died and Judah was comforted that as he went through the process of grieving and coming out the other end comforted after that and so he went up to his sheep up to his sheep shearers at Timna and his friend Huayra the ax deulim i we remember him at the beginning of the chapter is pagan friend the ax deulim ight he goes you know what my wife's dead it was a tough go I feel better now I'm gonna go visit my pagan friend the ax doula might Huayra and it was told Tamar saying look your father-in-law is going up to Tim not to share sheep so she took off her widow's garment covered herself with the veil wrapped herself and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timna for she saw that Shayla was grown and she was not given to him as a wife when Judah saw her he thought she was a harlot that's how she dressed she disguised herself she took off the mourning garments that she had been wearing because she had covered her face it seems that she dressed as if she were a temple prostitute knowing the kind of character that her father-in-law had now a temple prostitute is all mentioned it's in a few verses was a common Canaanite form of worship the way that many of the Canaanite temples got converts was through their prostitutes so it it was said to worship you would be a worshipper if you join yourself to a prostitute well young men who were out in the fields were thinking boy I like this church you know I'll join that one sure no problem and they got a lot of their converse that way through these gals she she covered her face verse 16 then he turned to her by the way and said please let me come into you in other words I seek your sexual favors for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law and so she said well what will you give me that you may come into me so here she is dressed up her intention is to maintain the family inheritance she's thinking I'll be out of this family I have no children so to keep the lineage of that family she disguises herself so that Judah himself will impregnate her it's warped I know but follow the story so she says what do you give me you know you're asking for this favor what will you give me how much will you give me he says I'll send you a goat from the flock and so she said will you give me a pledge until you send it so she's gonna get his goat but until she does she doesn't want the wool pulled over her eyes so they strike a deal I'll give you a goat okay great well you don't have a goat with you you're here but what will you give me as a promise until I get your goat and he said what pledge shall I give you and so she said your signet and cord and your staff that is in your hand and then he gave them to her and went into her and she conceived by him a signet is a ring and the ring was used to stamp within wax or clay let's say you were to buy something and you wanted to give your signature so to speak you would take your ring and you would impress it in wax or you'd impress it in clay and that was used for letter correspondence that was used for transactions and the ring that Cygnet was often worn around the neck with a cord so he takes the ring off which is on the cord gives it to her and the staff that is in her hand so it's sort of like giving his credit card his Visa card to her what shall I give you do you you know I don't have any cash do you take Visa well no tell you what give me your signet because really that is effectively like your personal credit card your signature your ability to buy so he goes good no problem gives it to her and she conceives verse 19 so she arose and went away and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood and Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the adieu lah might to receive his pledge from the woman's hand but he did not find her okay so let me just fill in this blank we're dealing with a Canaanite culture and the Canaanite culture has many of its worship practices the Mesopotamians were Mesopotamians where abraham came from and over there the whole idea of temple cult prostitutes developed and they were all about fertility so this is how it worked the idea was that the prostitute was emblematic of the goddess Ishtar the goddess of fertility the Babylonian goddess Ishtar she represented Ishtar and so before somebody would plant their fields with seed or have their flocks mate before that time they would often go to these temples and seek the woman the prostitute who would be emblematic of Ishtar and the idea was the recreation of the divine marriage of the gods and with that it was believed that one's livestock crops would come out in abundance and so it was common to see these Colt prostitutes scattered throughout the land but notice we're dealing with Judah the the lineage of Abraham Isaac and Jacob different world view different God called out from that stuff and he had Judah looks so much like the Canaanites in his practice in his marriage to schewe the Canaanite in his false worship utilizing prostitution so he's become very much like them so anyway he's gonna keep his end of the bargain look for the gal to give his goat - and so verse 21 he asked the men of that place Eh where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside they said there was no harlot in this place we don't know what you're talking about we can't remember any harlot so he returned to Judah and said I can't find her also the men of that place said there was no harlot in that place and then Judah said let her take them for herself lest we be shamed for I sent this young goat and you haven't found her I'll let her just keep it I doesn't need to be exchanged at this point I don't want to make it public because of the shame that'll happen it came to pass about three months after that now watch how the chickens come home to roost that Judah was told saying Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot furthermore she is pregnant she's with child by harlotry so Judah said bring her out and let her be burned Wow it's amazing how bad our sin looks on someone else it's amazing this guy he's the guy that gets her pregnant and then somebody says your daughter-in-law is pregnant oh I can't believe it burn her burn her you Turkey you know what this reminds me of reminds me of somebody else who saw his sin on somebody else named David David gets a girl pregnant that he lusts after kills her husband Nathan the Prophet finds out about it and goes to King Dave and it goes David I've got a problem well what is it I can solve problems well there were two men that lived in one city one was rich and one who was poor it was going yeah okay go on well the rich man owned exceedingly many flocks and herds but the poor man only were owned one small little lamb a ewe lamb this cuddly sweet little lamb that was a family pet in fact this lamb slept in his bed drank from his cup and ate of his own food it was like a daughter to him well that's interesting well so what's the story Nathan goes okay so there's what happened the rich guy had a friend come and visit him and instead of taking one of his many flocks and killing it and preparing it for a meal he finds that one little ewe lamb that that one poor man in that town owned stole it killed it and prepared it as a meal now David gets totally bummed out livid angry incensed and he said that man will surely die over a lamb he's gonna die tell him and the Nathan points his prophetic finger at David and says you are that man thus saith the Lord David God has given you so much he's given you wives he's given you a kingdom and if that weren't enough he'd given you so much more but you sinned against the Lord in taking the wife of another man like that you lamb when you had so much and so many others and you took that man's wife and you killed that man and then finally David fest up but boy did his sin look bad on somebody else in that little story that Nathan told him and so here with Judah his sin looks really bad on his daughter-in-law well notice what happens verse 25 when she was brought out she sent to her father-in-law saying by the man to whom these belong I'm with child and she said please determine whose they are the signet the court and the staff burn her and so she comes before him you know obviously I guess to get her sentence I guess her burning and so she goes you know before you sentence me to death just you ought to know that the father of this child is the one who owns this stuff maybe you can figure out whose ring this is you know has this one with a big honkin Jay on it shows it to him Judah so Judah acknowledged them and said she has been more righteous than I what a statement because I did not give her to Shayla my son and he never knew her again and it came to pass at the time for giving birth that Behold twins were in her womb so it was when she was giving birth the one put out his hand and the Midwife took a scarlet thread and bounded on his hand saying this one came out first then it happened as he drew back his hand that his brother came out unexpectedly and she said how did you break through this breech be upon you therefore his name was called Perez breach or breakthrough afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand and his name was called Zara so here's the story of Judah and his family and his sinful legacy marries the Canaanite cutie has three boys two of them die he gets a harlot pregnant which happens to be his daughter-in-law and with every turn of the phrase he becomes more and more like the Canaanites around him rather than different from them not standing out from them like Joseph did but like them socially and spiritually compromised syncretistic taking on the form of the culture around it in contrast to that we have Joseph where his story resumes in the very next chapter now before we get into that chapter I mentioned the genealogy of Jesus Christ and Judah being in it it probably is good to briefly look or I'll read to you just a few verses in Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David the son of Abraham now we have a genealogy that's how he opens why because to the Jew genealogies were high priority especially if you're dealing with a messiah you better prove the Messiah's pedigree goes all the way back not just to Abraham but to King David himself and so the genealogy is given but noticed the listing Abraham begot Isaac Isaac begat Jacob Jacob begat Judah and his brothers Judah begot Perez and zerah by Tamar Perez begat hezron hezron begat RAM so we have in the genealogy of the Messiah the son of God someone who is born by incestual birth in sexual relations within a family and it's recorded in the genealogy of Christ Ram begat abinadab abinadab begot not shown not shown begot Salman Salman begat Boaz by Rahab Boaz begat obed by Ruth Obed begat jesse jesse begat david the king now you have interestingly enough in a Jewish genealogy not just this illegitimate birth but you have women named very taboo for Jewish genealogies women had no legal rights they were kept out of genealogical records in fact a prayer was discovered in ancient literature prayed by some narrow-minded ancient Jewish people Jewish men who would wake up and part of their morning prayer regiment was Oh God I thank you that I'm not a slave a Gentile or a woman but notice the kind of people that are in the genealogical record of Christ it's as if somebody scoured through the Old Testament to find the most unlikely people and said let's put them in there of course it was God the Holy Spirit orchestrating it all here's my point if you think that because you have failed and maybe you have we all have and you think boy I've squandered of my life boy I've wasted my life boy boy I've made bad decisions it's good that you're honest it's good that you confess it but can I just say that you are probably in good company the Bible's filled with characters like that that God graciously got a hold of and used sometimes in spite of who they were there in the genealogical record of Christ and that's the importance of chapter 38 of Genesis now to chapter 39 back to the story of Joseph in Egypt okay while chapter 38 is going on chapter 39 is going on in Egypt now by reading chapter 38 we have years going by and Joseph isn't around and so during that time during this chapter 38 you're wondering so what's going on with Joe what's the Lord doing in Joseph's life here's the short answer what the Lord is doing in Joseph's life is developing Joseph's faith Joseph had faith he trusted in the Lord but remember he was quite naive he had faith in God but in it's very nascent primitive beginning stages like a seed it needed to grow and the way often the Lord develops our faith you're not going to like this is by pane pane if somebody if your boss gives you a raise tomorrow and makes you the vice president of the company your response is probably gonna be thank you Lord Lord I just want you to know I love you and I sure trust you if tomorrow however your boss says we don't need you we're cutting back on salaries you're laid off I wonder if your response is going to be lord thank you lord I sure do love you and you know I trust you now your faith is really on trial at that moment do you really believe God despite the circumstances or do you only trust God when life is good seventeen year old boy who loves God intently now needs to go through some development his faith needs to get deeper and that comes by pain somebody once said a Christian is like a teabag he's not worth much unless he's been through some hot water and so now you're seeing the hot water that Joseph is immersed in in chapter 39 and it's a contrast as I say to chapter 38 chapter 38 highlights the wretched morality of Judah chapter 39 highlights the rock-solid integrity of Joseph his younger brother now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and pot' afar an officer of Pharaoh captain of the guard in Egyptian bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there and the Lord was with Joseph and he was a successful man and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian Joseph sold as a slave bought by a slave owner named Potiphar God blesses him he's successful he does his job obviously with all of his heart obviously not complaining obviously with joy because everything he does people notice oh my god it seems like there's something different about him and they discover after he testifies oh it's the Lord that he believes in that is blessing him and prospering him you know I wonder if I had an experience like Joseph I'm taken down as a slave to Egypt through no fault of my own I wonder if my response wouldn't be and I bet it would be something like this this is a bummer this is the devil the devil is trying to ruin my life or how could God allow this to happen or God what's up I've got so much talent it's so wasted here why would you allow my talent my my creativity to be wasted here I wonder if that would be my response or if I would say like Joseph obviously said okay I'm a slave in Egypt so I'm gonna be the very best slave that Egypt has ever seen they ain't seen no slave like me and he gave his heart to it I want to make this point wherever you find yourself tonight you could chafe against it and you could focus on your vulnerability or you could focus on God's sovereignty and you could look at the task look at the place you are in life and say I am gonna take this as the will of God and I'm gonna do what I do to my very best oh but skip you don't know all I do is I push a broom where I work I couldn't get a job doing anything else oh they hired me as the general broom all day then why not say I'm gonna be the best broom pusher this company has ever seen how about that Joseph a slave God was with him he was a successful man and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian and his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand so Joseph found favor in his sight and then he made him we don't know how long a time this is but eventually he part of our made him Joseph overseer of his house and all that he had he put under his authority so it was from the time that he made him overseer of his house and all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake because Joseph was in it and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in his house and in the field so joseph has like the Midas touch whatever he does whatever he touches the Lord touches and when the Lord touches it it's blessed not only does he have that might is touched but he has the determination to be faithful and to give a faithful testimony to the glory of God where he's at it's amazing faithful testimony whatever he does is successful and he wants God to get the glory now if you live like that you can expect a friendly visit from your friendly neighborhood tempter the devil if you live like that with this kind of integrity and that kind of desire to see God glorified don't you think you're going to raise the interest and the ire of your adversary the devil do you think the devil and all of his minions would look at a life dedicated to Christ sold out to Christ and go oh how nice let's give him a standing ovation he'll come on demons clap for that young man no devising a scheme with which to get a hold of him he's young he's single he's good-looking hmm and so something crafted just for that is coming his way if you think about it so far Joseph was successful I just want to sort of like CS Lewis enter into the mind of Satan for a moment like he did in his book Screwtape Letters you'll probably want something like this okay Joseph you did pretty good you passed the temptation to love bitterness that you could have been toward your brothers you didn't get bitter toward them when they sold you as a slave you passed the test of discouragement you didn't get discouraged you just sort of dug your your your your whole self into your job and God touched it and you became successful great you pass those tests but I'm not done with you yet I've got something that's going to come from out of nowhere it's going to get your attention now you have to know that the enemy of your soul the devil and demons have studied you they know you they know your strengths they know your weaknesses they know when you're vulnerable they know what things might be in your path that would trip you up you have to be ready for that it comes with the territory there's this haunting scripture in the Gospel of Luke the temptation of Jesus you know the story and it says when Satan was done tempting Jesus that he left him until he had an opportune time it's a haunting verse you might leave a temptation oh man I was great I did really good I was stood the attack of the enemy he's waiting for the right time the opportune time now let's watch what happens with with Joseph verse 6 he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and this is interesting and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate he trusted Joseph in other words so much he didn't even know what was in the bank account he didn't know about the profit from his business dealings he left everything to Joseph he was that good over time he just studied this young man I thought this guy's faithful he's loyal he's trustworthy you know I'm giving it all to him so he didn't even know what was going on except I got food the bread that was right in front of him his own meal that's all he knew now it says the end of the verse now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance hmm young man good-looking single in pagan territory where there's no other believers around to see what he's up to I wonder what he'll do well let's see it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph so evidently pata fara was not the only one impressed with Joseph's mrs. Potiphar was as well but for different reasons now notice how subtle she is and she said to Joseph lie with me just sort of so subtle huh talk about a come on come to bed with me we're not told what's up what's up with Potiphar and mrs. Potiphar is this the typical Potiphar's busy gives no attention to his wife his wife's jealous or could it be that in that culture in Egypt he was familiar with other women and so in revenge she's trying to get back we're not told but she is a desperate housewife and she's got her eyes fixed on a young man named Joseph verse 8 but he refused notice that he refused he said no he said no way 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 hand there is no one greater in this house than I nor is he kept back anything from me but you because you are his wife number one let me tell you what Joseph did to counteract this temptation number one ethical conviction ethical conviction you see what he's saying is look your master your husband my my boss trusts me he's given everything into my hands he's given me his trust I will not betray his trust do you realize that you have people in your life that are trusting you not to succumb to temptation they put their trust in you your spouse has entrusted you not to fall to temptation your children have trusted that you'll be loyal to your valves your family your friends the body of Christ all trusting like Joseph knows that his own master Potiphar trusts him ethical convictions but notice what else he says how then verse 9 the end of verse 9 how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God this is number 2 way he fought it not just ethical conviction spiritual devotion he's devoted to God notice he doesn't say how can I do this great wickedness and sin against you mrs. Potiphar or how can I do this great wickedness and sin against mr. Potter far more than them more than her was God the greatest consideration in Joseph's life it's called in the Bible the fear of God the fear of the Lord have you heard that term the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge proverbs 8 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil the idea what does that mean the fear of the Lord it means an awesome reverence for God it's an awareness of the their nests of God I know God is here I know God is there I know God is watching and that was what motivated Joseph when no one else was looking he had no believers he had no godly people who saw what he was this is pagan Ville he could do what he wanted no one was in the house nobody saw this just her and him but he knew that God saw you remember the story when Moses killed that Egyptian we'll get to it in the book of Exodus I say do you remember it I taking for granted that you've already read that story in the Bible when Joseph was gonna kill the Egyptian the Bible says he looked this way and he looked that way his problem is he didn't look that way he only looked this way and that way looking for what on the horizontal level could be watching him not knowing God is watching always Joseph knew that that was this young man's conviction spiritual devotion fear of the Lord how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God verse 10 so it was as she spoke to Joseph day by day that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her tip number three in Joseph's victory continual let's call it continual refutation so we can stick with the rhyming he refused every day every day she came on to him every day continually he said no no no no it became the pattern of his life to say no how about if you start looking at your life like a city like an ancient city that has walls around it and gates the walls protect invaders the gates let people in and out if you don't want garbage in the city you close the gate if you don't want bad stuff in the city or bad people you close the gate well let's say you're looking out down the road and you see a beat-up old jalopy a truck coming at you I'm modernizing it a little bit and it's billowing smoke and it's highly pollutant vehicle and it's coming right toward the the city gate you don't want the pollution in so what do you do what do you do you close the gate these here the eyes these are the gates of the city these ears these are the gates of the city you and I let in aural and visual stimuli every single day and we live in a filthy world seeking to pour into you all of its pollution in all of its filth you need to I need to learn to close the gates learn to go don't want to see that don't want to hear that don't want to be here every day lie with me lie with me lie with me no no no no a continual pattern and not only to lie with her did you notice the end of verse ten or to be with her I'm not gonna even be around her there's a secret not gonna be around her he didn't say you know mrs. Potiphar let's just have coffee sometime you and I and I really want to minister to you I want to find out why you have this angst against your husband and love for other men maybe I can forget you I don't want to be around you get away from me and yet how many people they get involved in affairs sort of oh well it's just I can't just cut it off I want to that would be a bad what a bad witness what have you been doing the last few months cut it off say no don't even be with that person Martin Luther once said you can't stop birds from flying around your head but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair that's what he was doing he just kept saying no verse 11 but it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men were in the house inside that she caught him by his garment and said he's it's always this garment with Joseph isn't it you know where was the garment before the multicolored garment of speciality now he's got this Egyptian garment she grabs the garment and she says lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside or you might say he streaked outside why would he do that why wouldn't he grabbed his coat better to lose your garment than to lose your character I'm out of here foom took off in the other direction ran away if you're gonna walk with the Lord we need to learn to walk toward God on a daily basis always walk toward him always seek his word his spirit his will walk toward God and walk away from godlessness and that means influences that are godless as well so it was when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them saying see he has brought to us this Hebrew to mock us he came to me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice and it happened when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out that he left his garment with me and fled and went outside so she kept his garment with her until his tell his master Potiphar came home and she spoke to him with words like these saying the Hebrew servant whom you brought to us and came in he came into me to mock me and so what happened I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled outside so she concocts a story that Joseph was the one that came on to her and tried to rape her she was a big fat liar to put it mildly 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 who was it aroused at I'm not so sure it was aroused at Joseph because you'll notice in the next verse then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison a place where the Kings prisoners were confined and he was there in the prison in ancient Egypt and attempted rape was punishable by death it was a capital offense and somebody liked pata far with that kind of a position would no doubt have brought Joseph to immediately be executed if he believed Joseph really did this I'm not so sure his anger is aroused to Joe so I think his angers aroused the Bible says it's arouses and say at whom or at what I think he's angry because he knows his wife's character he also knows Joseph's character he knows that the Lord has blessed him personally because of Joseph and he knows he has to get rid of this guy now and put him in the prison he's mad but I think he's mad at her because of her character but the Lord aren't you glad do you have those phrases scattered throughout the Bible but the Lord if you could read a story of your life I wonder what you'd read so-and-so got fired today but the Lord something bad happened to that person but the Lord that's Joseph's life but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all that the prisoner all the prisoners who were in the prison whatever they did it was his doing the keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authorities so there again like in Potiphar's house he's faithful he's loyal he's not moping around hukum in jail this place stinks God's with him and he's thinking okay I guess God wants me to have a prison ministry because I'm in prison again instead of focusing on human vulnerability why did this happen to me he's focused on divine sovereignty hmm I could minister right here in jail because the Lord was with him in whatever he did the Lord made it prosper what a journey Joseph is on from his parents to the pit to pata far to the prison and next to the palace and every place is weird journey takes him the Lord is with him let me encourage you tonight to do two things summed up by one word run run for your life run from sin run to the Savior run away from those things those people that are dragging you away from God cut them off run from them and run to the Savior if you've never read pilgrims progress pick it up sometime read the book that Charles Spurgeon said he read twice a year in that story the chief character named Christian is leaving his town the city of destruction he sees it smoldering behind him he goes through a very narrow gate to go escape and as he's escaping through the narrow gate and he hears people crying in the background and they're trying to drag him back in finally he stuffs his fingers in his ears so he can't hear what's behind him he can't hear the people and he cries out you know you go he cries out life life eternal life eternal life and he runs through the narrow gate toward the celestial city a great way to live put your fingers Anders life life eternal life eternal life run for your life run from sin run to the Savior let's pray Heavenly Father what a contrast we've seen between Judah and Joseph two brothers from the same family one living in darkness of the culture of his day and age one who rose above it living under the godly Kingdom culture that was not apparent in his day but only in his life and in his heart because like Daniel as a young man he purposed in his heart that he wouldn't compromise and wherever Joseph was with that attitude with that temerity and that loyalty and faithfulness you prospered him what a great example Heavenly Father I pray that like Joseph who fled that day no matter what it costs us I pray we would flee running away from sin and running to the Savior or for some people that means they're gonna have to make some crucial decisions this week about places they go or things they watch or listen to for others it means cutting off a relationship that they're involved in that just isn't healthy for still others it means for the first time dedicating their life to Jesus Christ and running to you for salvation maybe for the very first time tonight I want to address those who may have come to this service who may have just come but you've never come personally to Christ you can't remember a time when you have personally surrendered your life over to Jesus Christ and asked him to come into your life as Savior and Lord tonight I want to give you the opportunity to do exactly that but there could be secondly some who maybe once made some spiritual decision in the past some commitment of some kind whatever that was and whenever that was the fact remains you're not walking with the Lord tonight you're you're at a distance from him you're not running to him you find yourself sort of running away even if it's slightly you're not walking with him I encourage you to run back to him tonight whether for the very first time or if this is a recommitment of your life I want you to give your life to Christ tonight and if you are willing to do that as we're closing the service now I want you to raise your hand up in the air so that I can see your hand raise your hand up and you're saying I'm gonna give my life to Christ tonight or rededicate God bless you in the front anyone else right there on the side one two three on my left for anybody else raise it up high so I can see to my right right up here toward the front in the middle on my far right god bless you anybody else in the balcony yep right there in the aisle I see your hand anybody else right up in the front again second row in the front father in heaven I pray we pray for those who are with us they've raised those hands come from different backgrounds there's different reasons behind those hands the Lord that indicates a desire to get right with you to come to you or to come back to you through your son Jesus Christ that's the only way anybody can come to you as Jesus said he is the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through him as these make that decision to come to you or to come back to you I pray father you'd fill them with a new sense of confidence a new sense of joy a new sense of purpose knowing that they're forgiven that they're right with you not because of what they've done but in spite of who they are and what they've done because of what Jesus has done for them Oh Lord put that peace of mind and heart deep within them that it would carry them through the week in Jesus name Amen let's all stand shall we I'm gonna ask you as we sing this final song if you raise your hand to do one other thing that is to get up from where you're standing whether you're in the back balcony side middle front find the nearest aisle walk up to the very front at the bottom of this platform here and let me lead you in a word of Prayer our counselors will be up here but you come right now and by coming you're indicating I'm gonna give my life totally over to Christ tonight Jesus called people publicly like this so often and tonight he's calling you to come if you raise your hand you come even if you didn't raise your hand but you want to receive Christ you come tonight during the balcony we'll wait for you during the family roomm come through the doors if you're in the middle of an aisle just say excuse me I'm coming through anybody else anybody else come right now come right now we don't even have to sing a song we just come right now make your way up this is your night you have an appointment with God keep it right now come forward [Applause] I do want you to know that I do this publicly not to embarrass anyone or have everybody look at you think why are they clapping what's the deal here Jesus so often called people publicly and you know they're just something happens inside of you when you decide to make a break once and for all and make a public commitment and a stand for Christ there's something that just sort of gels and confirms inside your own life and so um Jesus called people publicly and we're calling you up for word and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna say a prayer out loud I'd like you to pray that prayer out loud after me from your heart to the Lord you say this from your heart with everything in you you say this to the Lord this is you asking Jesus to come in tonight let's pray lord I give you my life I know I'm a sinner please forgive me I believe Jesus died that He shed his blood for my sin that he rose again from the dead I turn from my sin I leave it behind I take you as my savior I want to follow you as my lord from this day forward in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 10,782

Rating: 4.744 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Genesis, Sermon

Id: ARYLkk8k-Ig

Length: 69min 18sec (4158 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018