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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Chapter 49 Genesis 49 the Bible reads Jacob called into his sons and said gather yourselves together that I may tell you that We shall befall you in the last days gather yourselves together and hear you sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father Ruben thou art my firstborn my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity the excellency of power Unstable is water thou shalt not excel because thou went us up to thy father's bed then defile us thou it He went up to my couch Simeon and Levi are brethren instruments of cruelty are in their habitations Oh my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honor be not thou united For in their anger they slew a man and in their self-will they dig down a wall Curse be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies thy father's children shall bow down before thee Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey my son thou art gone up He stooped down he couched as a lion and as an old lion who shall rouse him up The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come And unto him shall be the gathering of people be Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass is cold unto the choice vine He washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea and he shall be for an haven of ships And his border shall be unto Zidon Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens And he saw that rest was good and the land that was it was pleasant And bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant on a tribute Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel Dan shall be a serpent by the way an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heel So that has healed so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation. Oh lord Gad a troop shall overcome him But he shall overcome at the last out of asher his bread shall be fat and he shall yield royal dainties If tali is in hind let loose he giveth goodly words Joseph is a fruitful bow Even a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run run over the wall The archers have surely grieved him and shot at him and hated him But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty god of jacob From thence is the shepherd the stone of israel even by the god of thy father who shall help thee And by the almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lieth under Blessings of the breast and of the womb the blessings of thy father have revealed above the blessings of thy progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills They shall be on the head of joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren Benjamin shall raven as a wolf In the morning, he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil All these are the 12 tribes of israel and this is it That their father spake unto them and blessed them everyone according to his blessing He blessed them and he charged them and said unto them I am to be gathered unto my people Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of ephron the hitite In the cave that is in the field of makpila Which is before mamre in the land of canin which abraham bought with the field of ephron the hitsite for possession of a burying place There they buried abraham and seraph's wife there They buried isaac and rebecca his wife and their eye buried leia the purchase of the field and of the cave That is therein was from the children of heth When jacob had made an end of commanding his sons He gathered up his feet unto the bed and yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people Let's pray dear lord god just thank you for your word lord. Thank you for this church. You've given us lord We thank you for pastor We pray that you bless them right now and fill them with your holy spirit lord as he preaches unto us your word lord and Just pray that us in the congregation are edified by the preaching lord. We pray this all in jesus name. Amen Amen I am losing my voice a little bit. So if I crack or if I have to pop a Cough drop, please forgive me. And so it's been like that since the morning, but we are in genesis chapter 49 look at verse 22 It says joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty god of jacob From thence is the shepherd the stone of israel and what i'm going to preach on this evening are the temptations Of joseph the temptations of joseph I want to chronicle the story the life of joseph and just talk about the betrayal that he experienced Some of his temptations and then ultimately how he forgave his brothers and this is quite honestly One of my favorite stories to read through when i'm reading through genesis very emotional And I kind of get emotionally really into it when i'm reading it. I feel for joseph and you know He's such a young man going through such trials and difficulties And what an incredible example he is to us as christians and we see here that he is that fruitful bow That in spite of hardships in spite of hindrances he was able to overcome Those things and still please god serve god obey the lord and ultimately be used in a great way In the land of egypt now go to genesis chapter 37 if you would Genesis chapter 37 let me say this is that when you're studying a particular person in the bible, you know The bible is very deep. There's many layers and it's important when you study a person There's all types of applications that we can make to our personal lives We obviously know that there's no temptation taking you such as is common to man In other words, whatever people experience in the bible The bible tells us that those things are written afford time for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come So these testimonies in the bible are there so that we can relate to them, right? We can see that these men were of like passions with us and we can also learn from some of their mistakes But also from some of the good decisions they made some of the things that they did in order to overcome Their trials and difficulties, so that's obviously important but it's also important that when you're studying a particular person in the bible You're related to jesus christ, right? It's important for us to look at look for jesus christ in the old testament look for jesus christ in each person that you study Because at the end of the day the bible tells us jesus said in the new testament beginning at moses and all the prophets He expounded into them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself and obviously there are many Uh, you know verses in the old testament about the messiah prophetic statements, but there's also a lot of people That actually Symbolically represent him as well. And of course his ministry his death his resurrection things of that nature And I believe joseph is one of them and we're going to look tonight. We're going to see tonight How he represents jesus christ in many ways. So let's start at the beginning here in genesis chapter 37 With the life of joseph first and foremost, let's talk about the fact that he was favored Envied conspired against and sold. Okay. It says here in genesis chapter 37 verse number three Now israel referring to jacob loved joseph more than all his children Because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors Now the first thing I want to mention here is the fact that israel or jacob is playing favorites with his sons, right? He likes joseph above all his sons and we see here that he's basically doing What his mother had done to him because if you remember jacob was also the favored and so he kind of did that also With joseph look at verse four and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him Could not speak peaceably unto him and joseph dreamed the dream and he told that his brethren and they hated him yet the more so He comes and of course his brothers obviously see that their father likes joseph above them And they hate him they have envy towards him They are very much envious of his position But then they hate him even more when he dreams this dream meaning a vision of the future And then he begins to talk about it with them. They begin to hate him even more They despise him for it. Look at verse six and he said unto them here. I pray you this dream which I have dreamed For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf arose and also stood upright behold your sheaves Stood around about and made obeisance to my sheaf now you can kind of tell You kind of understand why his brothers didn't really like that He's like let me tell you about a vision that I had that vision is that you guys were all serving me Making obeisance to my sheaf You know, obviously that's not going to sit well with the older brothers, right? Verse eight says and his brethren said to him shout thou indeed reign over us Or shout thou indeed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said behold I have dreamed up dream more so you would have thought that joseph would have learned his lesson This is like hey, you know, they didn't really like that first dream Maybe I should cut back on you know Kind of talking to my brothers about these visions that god has given to me But he dreams another dream and he's like maybe they'll like this one instead He says and behold the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me And they told it to his father and to his brother and his father rebuked him So all so jacob doesn't even like this and said and said what is this dream that thou has dreamed Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth and his brethren listen to this Envied him but his father observed the saying so right off the bat We see that joseph's brothers did not like him. They hated him for being the favored child They envied and hated him for his dreams They didn't like the fact that he's kind of expressing to them the vision that god is giving to them And even to the point where his father also was bothered by his preaching as well, right? Now joseph here pictures jesus christ in a few ways first and foremost He pictures jesus christ in that he was favored of his father Just as jesus was favored of his father as well. Jesus did all those things which pleased the lord God favored the lord jesus christ because that was his only begotten son. Not only that but we see that Jacob gives joseph a coat of many colors To distinguish him as the favored firstborn because joseph is not necessarily the firstborn among all the children But he is the firstborn with his mother, right? So he gives him this coat of many colors in order to distinguish him as the favored firstborn Let me read you from hebrews chapter 1 verse 8 Speaking of jesus it says but unto the son he saith thy throne Oh god is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom Thou has love righteousness and hated iniquity Therefore god even thy god hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness. Listen to this above thy fellows So just as joseph was coated with that coat of many colors to distinguish him as the favored son in like manner Jesus christ is coded so to speak with the anointing of the holy ghost the anointing of gladness above his his Contemporaries above his fellows and we can say above his brethren. Okay, not only that but we see that he was envied of his brethren Just as jesus christ was envied of the jews For the masses of crowds that followed him you see when jesus christ was delivered up to pilot to be crucified Even pilot knew that they had delivered him for envy the bible says it's not because the jews thought. Oh, man He's preaching a false gospel. He's preaching false doctrine. This guy is wicked No, they the reason they're delivering him is because they don't want him to take their subscribers They don't want him to take their followers You know, jesus christ comes on the scene. All the masters are following him. Everyone is listening to his preaching They're being changed by him and they are slowly transitioning out of the religion of the pharisees what we know to be to be Judaism and they're following the lord jesus christ and because of that they envied him and by the way this envy Transferred over into the book of acts Because even after jesus christ ascends his disciples are going out preaching the word of god And the pharisees and the jews envied them as well because the work of god continued And so joseph just as joseph was envied of his brothers For his the favor that he received of the father in like manner Uh, jesus christ was envied of the jews as well not only that but he was hated of his brethren for his visions Just as jesus was hated for his preaching You know a dream in the old testament is obviously a vision. It's the word of god that's being given to someone in a dream And this is not something that's applicable today, by the way, okay The reason this was done in the old testament is because they didn't have a canonized bible And so god would essentially reveal himself. He would speak in dreams and in visions But now we have the written word of god that we can Read and memorize and know what god's will is and the bible says in proverbs 29, you don't have to turn to verse 18 Where there is no vision the people perish But he that keepeth the law Happy as he essentially showing us that the law is synonymous with the vision now Isn't it true with joseph that because of his vision the people in egypt did not perish because god gave him that particular vision And so we can almost relate his dreams or his vision as being His preaching right preaching what god had placed on his heart. Well in like manner it says in the new testament of jesus christ Then they took excuse me Then took they stones to cast at him But jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by and of course We also know that his brothers hated him because he reported of their evil deeds, right? They're wicked deeds and in like manner it was the same thing with jesus christ Not only that but we see that his father after he received this word of god after he received the vision The bible says that his father observed these saints so he rebukes him He's just like who do you think you are like mom and dad are going to rule over you You know, I wiped your bottom and you know, we raised you and we're you're going to rule over us or whatever But then later on it says but he observed those things Meaning that like after he's done rebuking him. He's like man. I wonder if there's some truth to that Like I gotta watch out what I say. He observed he thought about them Well, this is very similar to what we see in luke chapter two because when jesus christ, uh, you know when when he is talking to his parents because he is You know with the doctors he's asking questions And when they came to him, they're like we sought these sorrowing and jesus said, you know What's he not that I must be about my father's business? He kind of rebukes them he corrects them For not understanding those things and it says in verse 50 and they understood not the same what she spake unto them This is from luke chapter 2 And he referring to jesus went down with them and came to nazareth and was subject unto them Listen to this, but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. So just as jacob observed the sayings of joseph In like man or mary kept the sayings of jesus christ in her heart of what he was saying Not only that but we see that joseph came into his own And his own received him not in like manner. Jesus christ came into his own and his own received him not look at verse 18 Skip down to verse 18. It says and when they saw him afar off, so at this point joseph is looking for his brethren He sent of his father to go to the brethren right to see what they were doing And to report back it says in verse 18 and when they saw him afar off referring to his brother seeing him joseph Even before he came near into them. They conspired against him to slay him And they said one to another behold this dreamer cometh now This is very sad, you know joseph is just doing what his father told him to do To just go over and report to see where the where the brothers are he comes and he has no nefarious agenda behind it He doesn't have any envy or anger or malice against his brothers But right off the bat when they see him afar off, what do they want to do? They conspire it says to slay him Meaning they're like, you know what? We got to kill this guy I mean, that's a very wicked imagination to have especially against your own blood brother And of course they're mocking him saying behold the dreamer cometh look at verse 20 says come now therefore and let us slay him And cast them into some pit and we will say some evil beast had devoured him and we shall see what will become of his Dreams, so they're conspiring to kill him. They're conspiring to throw him in a pit and they're conspiring to lie about it, right? Now obviously this happened to jesus Because when jesus was here, they also conspired to kill him He was also in a spiritual manner thrown into a pit known as hell And the jews also wanted to lie about it right They created this narrative that you know, oh the disciples came and they took him away and really it was the romans who did It wasn't us or whatever Verse 21 and rubin heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said let us not kill him Rubin said unto them shed no blood but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him That he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again It came to pass when joseph was coming to his brethren that they stripped joseph out of his coat And his coat of many colors was on him and they took him And cast him into a pit and the pit was empty and there was no water in it So he comes looking for his brothers. They grab him. They seize him They take the coat of many colors off of him and they throw him alive into a pit No water in it. Obviously, they have evil intentions now How does joseph picture jesus christ in this story why i've already mentioned? That he was conspired against just as jesus christ was conspired against of the jews But they also stripped joseph of his coat just as they parted jesus's garments, right? He was also cast into a pit just as jesus was cast into the pit of hell. Look at verse 27 if you would It says in verse 27 verse 27 come let us sell him to the ishmaelites And let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother in our flesh. Oh, wow, you guys are just so noble Honorable and his brethren were content then they're passed by media night merchant merchant men And they drew lifted up joseph out of the pit and sold joseph to the ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver And it brought joseph into egypt So, you know rubin doesn't want him to die and they end up coming with a better plan in their minds then instead of killing him Why don't we just sell him and then we'll tell dad hey some evil beast slew him and therefore we will we you know They're not going to be held responsible For the evil that came upon him. So joseph pictures jesus christ in this particular portion Because of the fact that joseph's brothers sought to slay him by proxy just as the jews did to jesus They sent jesus to pilot to the romans right to kill him because they could not stone him Not only that but he was sold by his brothers Just as jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. So just as jesus was handed over to the romans For 30 pieces of silver in like manner we have joseph his brother is doing the same look at verse 36 And the media knights sold him into egypt unto potiphar an officer of pharaoh and captain of the guard So we see here that his fate was placed in the hands of potiphar Who's an officer of egypt just as jesus was placed in the hands of pilot So joseph was placed in the hands of potiphar jesus into the hands of pilot now right off the bat first chapter Chronicling the life of joseph a lot of evil that came upon this guy. I mean he's not He's probably about 17 years of age at this point He's suffering, you know at the hands of his blood brothers albeit their half brothers, but they're still his brothers He's being conspired against they hate him. They envy him. They throw him into the pit They end up selling him into sleep. They're they're using him for human trafficking and he goes into the land of egypt just Never to see his parents again until the very end and in fact, he you know, he doesn't see his family For many years to come. I mean, this is a very sad thing that takes place here now Before we get into how else he pictures jesus christ, let's give some application here. Okay, because although this is an extreme example Of what we see happening to joseph to a lesser extent things like this can happen to us, right? How so well, you know family can become foes Blood relatives can be your worst enemies at times people who don't like you In your family because of your quote-unquote dreams your quote-unquote vision or should we say the law of god, right? You expound into them the law of god and quite frankly you might be like joseph Where you brought that dream to your family members, they hate you for it And then you come back with another dream. You're like, well, maybe they'll accept the reparate doctrine Maybe they'll accept replacement theology Maybe they'll accept fill in the blank and then they just hate you that much the more for the law of god for the preaching of god You know, they have that Animosity towards you because of the preaching. Let me read you from matthew chapter 10 verse 17 Actually, i'm gonna skip some verses here i'm gonna reach you from verse 34 It says think not that i'm come to send peace on earth I came not to send peace but a sword Now this is jesus speaking And jesus is saying hey, you know, i'm not necessarily trying to reconcile the world with themselves You know, his job is to reconcile the world back to god Not necessarily between each other and in fact, he specifically says i'm not sending peace. I'm sending a sword What does the sword do it divides? What does it divide it divides family members it divides friends. It divides acquaintances Because doctrine divides It says in verse 35 for i'm come to set a man at variance against his father And the daughter against her mother Now those that's painful, right if you think about your children coming against you Speaking out against you being at variance against you your daughter being against you that is very painful and that requires Some sort of strong division that the sword which is the word of god can bring Right differences between you and your blood relatives But then it says in the daughter law against your mother mother-in-law and you know what? That's not really, you know, I don't know if you need a sword for that Sometimes it's just marriage can do that. Amen I'm getting a law look so obviously, you know, you know, can I get a witness and i'm just kidding Got a lot of witnesses in here that agree It's true. But you know what you say why get along with my daughter-in-law? Well, you know what sometimes there are instances in this world Where doctrine can divide you from your daughter-in-law or son-in-law And I want you to notice this in a man's foes meaning enemies Shall be they of his own household Meaning that there the bible itself can create such tension between you and family members You and relatives that it it kind of separates you guys You know and I could attest to this that You know, I have family members that I was very close to that I grew up with but once I became a christian There's a major divide there And you know When I first got saved I kind of tried to keep that relationship I tried to just get along with those family members But I knew that there's already the sword had already come through And they weren't happy that I was a christian. They weren't happy that I believed in the bible They weren't happy about my beliefs. They weren't happy about those things. We were at what variants? And believe it or not. We be they became my foes And you know, sometimes this can happen on a very extreme level other instances Maybe it's not not as extreme what the bible is trying to teach us here Is that at the end of the day our loyalty should always be to the lord jesus christ even over our blood relatives Over your parents over your children over the people that you grew up with why because of the fact that he's our god right He says he that loveth father or mother more than me Is not worthy of me And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me So what the bible is telling us here is that if you're truly going to take up the cross of christ To be crucified unto the world be crucified with christ part of that Part of the result of that the consequence of that is that there might be some differences between you And those closest to you whom you love The the sword of the word of god might come and divide you Okay, just as it did with joseph and his brothers go to genesis chapter 39 if you would genesis chapter 39 And you know, there's a tendency amongst christians To compromise a little bit in this area To compromise because they love their family members. They love their children. They love their parents. They love their aunts. They love their uncles They love their cousins And they want to compromise the word of god They want to compromise the sword because they want to maintain those relationships Now, let me just say this is that obviously we need to be a christian And we need to make sure we have a good testimony And we need to make sure that we don't give people a reason to hate us And we're not obnoxious to our relatives and we don't just give people a reason to just think we're just despicable, right? Obviously if you want to win your family to christ be a good ambassador for christ Be a good testimony don't be a jerk Don't be annoying don't be a nuisance Make sure that you bring life into your family, right? But there comes a point that even when you do that It's just not enough, you know, it's not enough. They don't like it. They don't like the beliefs Plain and simple i've had people tell me i've had p i've had family members tell me christianity took you away from me That's what they said family members close family members like Church took you away from me christianity took you away from me christianity took my brother away You know and you know what? It's 100 true It's 100 true because the alternative to uh christianity is just living a sinful life Doing things that i'm not supposed to be doing doing things that are not pleasing unto god. I have to choose jesus. Amen Okay And so and by the way, so do you Okay, sometimes there's going to come a time when you're presented with that option And you know a lot of times people are just like well, I just love my friends though, you know These are my friends and yeah, but have you tried to win them to christ though? Well, yeah, I have and have they gotten saved. No, they have not then it's time to uh, kick rocks It's time to move on with your life. It's time to get some christian friends It's time to actually move on and allow that sword to divide you guys as far as possible Okay So one we see that he was favored. He was envy. He was conspired against he was uh, He was lied against actually death number two. He was falsely accused. Look at genesis 39 verse one So before we get into so now joseph, he's sold into egypt And we don't necessarily know what's going on in his mind, but obviously he feels betrayed. He's lonely Probably scared But he sold into potiphar's house And look at verse one. It says joseph was brought down to egypt and potiphar an officer of pharaoh captain of the garden egyptian Bought him of the hands of the ishmaelites Which had brought him down thither And the lord was with joseph and he was a prosperous man He was in the house of his master the egyptian So in spite of the fact that he was completely removed geographically from his home into another place. God was still with him And you know what that shows us as christians no matter what happens to you No matter how many people betray you no matter how many hardships you go through You just got to make sure that the lord is with you Because if god is with you who can be against you You know god can prosper your way. And in fact, we're so focused on sometimes making sure that god prospers our way We don't realize that god wants to use us to prosper everyone else's way Because he he's not prospering joseph necessarily But he is prospering those who come in contact with joseph You know, sometimes we're so concerned of turning everything into gold or making sure god turns everything into gold for us Not realizing that maybe god wants us to turn things into gold Be a blessing to your boss be a blessing to your family be a blessing to your surroundings And that's what's happening with joseph. He's enslaved He's employed by potiphar but god is causing everything that potiphar has to prosper because of joseph And one thing you need to realize is that let me just let me just remind you you're here to be a blessing Will you be blessed? Absolutely as a christian. Will you be blessed? Will god favor you? Yes, but you know more important He wants you to be a blessing to someone else And so joseph goes there. He's a prosperous man, and he's in the house of his master the egyptian And by the way, this is joseph pictures jesus christ in this manner Because jesus everywhere he went He went about doing good Healing people benefiting others even to the point where virtue is going out of his body people could just grab onto His his coat and then virtue will come out and just heal them automatically He causes the people around him to prosper and heal look at verse number six So everything's going good. He's probably assimilating to the new life in egypt. He's got a new job misses his dad Miss his home But this is the lot he has right It says he left all that he had in joseph's hand and he knew not ought he had Saved the bread which he did eat and joseph was a goodly person and well favored. So what's going on here? You know potiphar really trusts joseph Joseph is like the accountant. He manages all of potiphar's possessions and resources You know, he's an important person in his household. So everything's going good verse seven and it came to pass after these things That his master's wife cast her eyes upon joseph and she said lie with me So he's doing well. Everything's going great. But then the whore comes into the picture potiphar's wife And she wants to have she wants to commit adultery with joseph. Okay, that's what lie with me means verse eight but he refused And sent it to his master's wife behold my master wadith not what is with me in the house And he had committed all that he had to my hand There was none greater in this house than I Neither hath he kept back anything from me, but thee because thou art his wife How then can I do this great wickedness and I want you to notice this and sin against potiphar no against god So one thing I want you to notice here is that basically joseph is telling it's like your husband trusts me You know, he's trusted me with everything except, you know, he's not giving me you because you're his wife How can I do this great wickedness and sin against god? And by the way, one of the greatest ways To overcome temptation was when you realize that if you sin you're sinning against god Not just against your fellow brethren not just against yourself, but more importantly against god His perspective is good And you know, he's probably a young guy You know, he's a young guy. He's away from home. He's lonely And i'm gonna assume that potiphar's wife is not ugly Right You know potiphar is an important man, he probably has a lot of money So he probably can get himself a really beautiful woman He said why bring that up? Well, probably because it's probably tempting to joseph to commit that wicked act It's true You know He wouldn't be tempted if she was ugly or something, you know Can I just be real honest with you here i'm trying to help you here understand this situation You know, he he's probably tempted because of the fact that she is very attractive Look at verse 10 and it came to pass as she spanked joseph day by day That he hearkened not into her to lie by her to be with her So it's not like she's just coming to him once like every day. She's trying to tempt him every day She's saying lie with me and every day. He's like no no, no, no, no Now the bible says resist the devil he will flee from you But the opposite is true as well That if you resist the devil sometimes you have to flee And it came to pass verse 11 about this time that joseph went into the house to do his business And there was none of the men of the house there within there therein and she caught him by his garment saying lie with me And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out now. I don't know if this means that like, you know He's just naked like it's possible though, but she's grabbing onto his garment and He's so determined Not to commit fornication not to commit adultery that he just wiggles out of his coat And just runs Now if he's naked that's commitment Right, it's commitment. He's like, I don't care if i'm going naked. I'm this is not going to happen Good man Good man And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand And was fled forth that she called to the men of the house and speaking to him saying see He hath brought in in hebrew unto us to mock us He came in unto unto me to lie with me and I cried with a lot of voice obviously she's embarrassed because this slave Is not willing to adhere to her demands Even to the point where he's willing to run away from her So she's obviously very embarrassed And so what did she do? She implies basically like oh this guy tried to come in and take advantage of me Verse 15 it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out Now, how does this picture jesus christ because it does Well think about this you know The bible says of jesus christ that he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin You know, what's interesting about that word temptation is that it actually means two things Temptation means trial Or temptation as in you're enticed to sin And you know what joseph was tempted in all points, too He's being tried By his brothers as in he's going through a trial But we also see him literally Being tempted with sin here with potiphar's wife and in both instances. He was without sin Now this is not saying that joseph is perfect or anything But obviously this is a clear picture of jesus christ that he's going through these different temptations And he's essentially passing with flying colors. No pun intended. Okay So he was tempted at all points just as jesus was he was tempted as in tried but also tempted to sin And he did not give in Now, what are some things we can learn from this? Well, you know one thing we can learn go with me to the new testament To first corinthians chapter 6. We're going to look at a couple verses here. Hold your place there in genesis First of all, one thing we can learn from joseph is that sometimes you just got to run from temptation You know, sometimes people give in to sin when they are tempted Only because they're constantly trying to exercise their will not to sin Like I just got to will myself not to sin will myself not to sin But really the way you gain victor over temptation is that you don't put yourself in the presence of temptation you understand If you're constantly before temptation then you got a problem if you're constantly placing yourself in that position whereby you're tempted Eventually your will will be weak and eventually you will give in you see our will is like a spare tire right What is the spare tire for well? You know when you have a flat tire You just grab that spare and it's only meant to take you only so far until you can get the tire replaced Right, you're not supposed to drive around all around the city with it for a week Okay It was just like well, you know, it looks funny, but hey, it'll do That's only for emergencies A spare tire is only supposed to be used for emergency cases only You're not supposed to just use it to just go to work Go do grocery shopping go run your errands It's only to take you from point a to point b until you can replace the tire Well, you know in like manner that's how our will is You see our will should only be used in emergency instances only In general keep airing the tire You understand what i'm saying You know in in general keep yourself away from temptation In general stay away from people that are tempting you to sin In general stay away from that woman who's tempting you at work In general stay away from that dude in your dms In general stay away from whatever tempted, you know, if you struggle with alcohol stay away from bars That's pretty simple I'm gonna exercise my will I got a lot of friends in the bars. I'm gonna witness to them. Jesus sat with sinners Well, here's the thing though. Jesus is not tempted with alcohol though And if you are You shouldn't be at the bar Well, I drink diet coke and i'm fine or whatever Yeah, you're gonna exercise that spare tire until it blows out and then you give in to sin You know stay away from your friends that tempt you to smoke marijuana attempt you to vape Attempt you to do any drugs you used to do in times past attempt you to watch things that you shouldn't watch Say things you shouldn't say listen to things you shouldn't listen to cause you to sin Stay away from temptation And if temptation comes to you and you can't control it this is what you do run You run You leave your garment and run Look at first corinthians chapter 6 verse 18. It says meats for the belly And belly for meats, but god shall destroy both it and them Meaning that god made the belly for food And made food for the belly Right, that's what they're for They have this relationship Food goes into the belly the belly is made to consume food first corinthian 6 Now he says in verse 13 now the body is not for fornication But for the lord and the lord for the body, so yes meat is for the belly bellies for the meats, but guess what? Fornication is not for the body Neither is the body for fornication These don't go hand in hand verse 14 and god Had and god shall have both raised up the lord and will also raise up us by his own power Knowing that your bodies are the members of christ Shall I then take the members of christ and make them the members of an harlot god forbid What know you not that he which is joined to in harlot is one body for to say he shall be one flesh But he that is joining to the lord is one spirit flee fornication it says like joseph Every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that committed fornication sin it Excuse me against his own Body go to first corinthians. I'm, sorry second timothy chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2 I'm going to continue reading in first corinthians chapter 6. It says what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost Which is in you which you have of god and ye are not your own For you are bought with the prize therefore glorify god in your body and your spirit which are gods So the bible literally gives the command To flee from fornication. What does it mean to free flee means run get away from it as fast as possible? Don't just stay there and try to exercise your will See how strong you are. Let me see how much I can handle. Let me just see if I can just take it Let me see if I can just resist it as much as possible No, the bible says flee from it get away from it and this is applicable not just to fornication. It's applicable to any sin Whatever sin that you're tempted with flee from it, okay Now you can't necessarily flee from food If you're if you're if the sin that you struggle with is gluttony You can't necessarily run away from it. But you know what? You don't have to drive down the street where the mcdonk's is all the time You don't have to drive by the restaurant that you're always tempted to go by all the time, you know flee Second timothy chapter 2 verse 20 says Or verse 21 if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel to honor Sanctify and meet for the master's use and prepared into every good work. Listen to this flee also youthful lusts But follow righteousness faith charity peace within the call on the lord out of a pure heart So aside from the fact that god wants us to flee from temptation He actually wants us to go towards the people who are going in the same direction that you are In other words, it's not enough that you flee from sin and temptation You got to be around the right people as well All right. Here's a good way to explain it flee from temptation flee to the house of god Be around godly strong christians that will exhort you strengthen you Let you know how to overcome temptation because let's just be honest. There's strength in numbers When you have people around you just you know strengthening you in the lord exhorting you to resist temptation Exhorting you to do the right thing to be around the right people to have the right disciplines that helps Because it says they're with them. They're calling the lord out of a pure heart go back to genesis if you would So joseph gets an a plus. Amen And he suffers because of it, but you know what it doesn't matter Because he loves the lord he's doing that which is right in his sight look at verse 19 And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife Which he spake unto him saying after this man who did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled And joseph's master took him and put him into the prison A place where the king's prisoners were bound and he was there in the prison so just as uh Joseph was falsely accused in like manner. Jesus christ was also falsely accused of the jews verse 21 I love this phrase, 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 the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever They did there He was the doer of it the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the lord was with Him and that which he did the lord made it to prosper So again, just as we saw with potiphar and joseph Even though he's in prison. What is he doing? He's prospering now. What is the principle here? You know prosper where you're plotted? You may not be in the best of circumstances. You can still succeed You may not be have the best situation. It's okay. You can still prosper You can still be a blessing. You can still please god. You can still serve the lord You know, you think to yourself well, you know, I don't have a family you can still be a blessing Well, i'm not married. You can still be a blessing Oh, I don't have what other people have. I feel like i'm in a prison. You can still be a blessing You can still cause others to prosper and in fact you yourself can prosper as well It doesn't matter where you are in life. Whatever lot is given to you. You can still prosper just as joseph did Joseph wasn't like well i'm in prison so I can't really you know, god was with me at potiphar's house But here I mean it's prison No, he just took it as well. This is where I am. I'm gonna grow Wherever i'm planted I'm gonna try to succeed. I'm gonna obey god no matter what Go to genesis 40 So just when you thought things couldn't get worse for joseph Man, it's just like he's sold into slavery. His brothers hate him Now he's in egypt He was doing so good with potiphar gets lied about Gets thrown into prison But all right, you know things are now looking up again He's in charge in the prison, you know he Anytime I read that story i'm like what kind of responsibilities are there in the prison though? You know clean the latrines or what like what do you got to do exactly? But in either case he's prospering there god's blessing him giving him favor well Two other prisoners come in there a butler and a baker and this is not a joke Okay, a butler and a baker going to a prison And you know the principle that we're going to learn here is that sometimes the good that you do will go unnoticed Let me just give you a little bit of reality check Sometimes the good that you do Will absolutely go unnoticed at your job. Sometimes it'll go unnoticed With your family sometimes it'll go on. Hey moms, sometimes all the work that you put in Unfortunately, sometimes it goes not sometimes a lot of times goes unnoticed. Maybe your husband's not going to thank you all the time Maybe your kids are sometimes being a mom is just a thankless job You know in church, you know what sometimes what you do will go unnoticed Now, let me rephrase that sometimes it'll go unnoticed by the people But god will notice it all the time. Okay Okay But with that being said a butler and a baker they get thrown into prison The both of them basically disrespected to a certain degree pharaoh and they're thrown into prison and you know They're just in the same situation as joseph, but then god gives The butler and the baker a particular dream Instead of giving the dream to joseph But the reason he's giving the dream to the butler and the baker is because it's going to trouble them And thereby allowing joseph the opportunity to interpret that dream thereby confirming That joseph is this divine interpreter sent by god. Of course. God already has a plan with this and what is the dream? they have this dream of you know, the the the The butler has a dream about you know, essentially becoming pharaoh's cup bearer again And you know squeezing the grapes into the cup and essentially being reestablished once again in in pharaoh's presence And then the baker has like a worst dream where you know, basically interpretation of his day. He's going to die in a couple days And they come to joseph and joseph interprets that he says hey Butler, you're going to be reinstated to your former position You're going to be able to give pharaoh's cup to his hand once again squeeze grapes into his cups again Baker I got some bad news for you, you know How do I say this you're going to die? Okay And look at verse number 20 He says and it came to pass the third day Which was pharaoh's birthday that he made a feast into all servants and he lifted up the head of the chief butler And of the chief baker among his servants And he restored the chief butler unto his butler ship again, and he gave the cup into pharaoh's hand But he hanged the chief baker as joseph had interpreted to them Yet did not the chief butler remember joseph, but forgot him So joseph had told him hey once you're reinstated Don't forget me Just remember me Because he obviously knows like this is my way out of this. This is like You're my only chance to get out of this prison. This is why god's allowing me to interpret this. Please Don't forget me and what does the butler do just forgets him? I mean, that's sad I read that i'm just like my heart goes out to joseph Because you know That happens and what happens with joseph day one passes Day two passes day three passes after a while. You just start losing hope you're like dan the guy forgot about me You know And so he forgot him. He just kind of went about his life You know what? Sometimes you will go and notice you won't be thanked and you will be forgotten about him I hate to tell you that But it is true in this life People will forget you They'll forget to say happy birthday to you Don't forget to say thank you Don't forget the works that you do They'll forget you and you know what? That's the harsh reality But i'm glad it's a reality because it kind of exalts the fact that god never forgets you I'm, not saying that god will never forget your birthday. He's not he's not going to say like happy birthday or anything like that But here's the thing god will remember you and in fact the bible says in hebrew 6 verse 10 for god is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love Which he has showed toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister isn't that comforting to know? That maybe you may not be thanked today But god will always remember what you did When everything's said and done God's going to remind you of what you did. It's called the judgment seat of christ and I guarantee you At the judgment seat of christ, we're going to be rewarded for things that we forgot we did Like oh, yeah, I did do that Like we'll even forget what we did for god, but god's not going to forget You know, he keeps good. He keeps good records He's like you walked the lady across the street, you know Then you gave her the gospel You know you prayed for this person you did these things why because he's not unrighteous to forget your labor of love Okay And so keep that in mind that when others forget god will not Go to genesis 41. We're almost done So we see that he was lied about We see that he was forgotten But we also see that he was prepared So what happens here pharaoh gets a dream? It's two dreams. They trouble him and obviously the dreams are about what's going to happen to egypt A great famine is going to come upon the land in egypt that essentially is going to destroy the land and ruin the resources and crops But prior to that there's going to be seven years of plenty So there's seven years of plenty seven years of famine and this is given to him in a very cryptic enigmatic dream That he himself can interpret So he's like really troubled about this. He's asking the magicians the sorcerers to interpret and no one's there you know the cupbearer is just kind of like And he's like, oh man Hey, I forgot something. Um, you know There's actually a guy in the prison who actually knows how to interpret this, you know So finally he remembers it's like god had to just kind of throw that memory in there for him Because the guy's so absent-minded And he remembers him and of course joseph comes He gives the interpretation and he Gains credibility with pharaoh He ends up saving egypt from this great famine And becoming a manager of the resources of egypt to essentially help them throughout this seven-year period of famine verse 38 Pharaoh said unto his servants. Can we find such a one as this? Is a man whom the spirit of god is? And pharaoh said unto joseph for as much as god has showed thee all this there is none so discreet and wise as thou are Thou shall be over my house and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled only in the throne Will I be greater than thou and pharaoh said unto joseph see I have set thee over all the land of egypt And pharaoh took off his ring from his hand Put it upon joseph's hand and arrayed himself investors of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck And he made him to ride in the second chariot, which he had and they cried before him bow the knee And he made him ruler over all the land of egypt And pharaoh said unto joseph, I am pharaoh and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of egypt So this is pretty incredible. Now. The only downside to this is that he's renamed some weird egyptian name zaphnath panaya I would have been like Can can we choose a different name, you know, like what is zaphnath panaya? But you know, he is promoted to essentially be the vice pharaoh of egypt Which leads me to my next point go to chapter 45 if you would chapter 45 So the seven years of plenty come He's able to manage the resources that they have in order to prepare for the great famine And then everyone essentially depends on egypt during those seven years to feed the people of the land And of course through joseph's wisdom his knowledge He's able to distribute resources onto the people all the while maintaining an abundance and plenty of resources For egypt themselves. So all these nations are actually coming To egypt to receive grain and food In order to be safe, so what do we see here we see that joseph ends up being a preserver of life Okay Now here's where the fun starts Why well joseph's married now, he's got kids the man is the vice pharaoh He's he has all kinds of money He's you know, he's he's an important man And look who comes crawling back, right? Okay His brothers because obviously the famine is not just in egypt it's even in canan land So jacob tells his sons. Hey go to egypt take money and go purchase grain so we can survive this so they all come And joseph recognizes his brothers His brothers do not recognize him because the dude looks like an egyptian Not only that, but he's speaking through an interpreter. Okay, so he has obviously learned the language of the egyptians So he speaks to the interpreter in egyptian. The interpreter speaks to them in hebrew, okay So they come from canan joseph recognizes them and then he accuses them of being spies He's like no you're spies. You're like, oh no, we're just here to buy food and he's just like No, you're a spy He's like to spy out the good of the land or you come You are and they're just they're just trying to be honest. They're like no we're we're the sons of one man And you know, we just came here from canan land and he hears the whole dissertation he's like you're spies So then what does he do he basically tells them okay if you're telling the truth I want you to go back home and go bring your youngest brother which is by the way his youngest brother benjamin And he says i'm gonna keep simian Obviously he doesn't name him but he's like i'm gonna keep that guy put him in prison. Okay? So they go back And he sends them back packing You know, but obviously, you know the first time they go back Obviously he puts money in there and they go back and then they come back and that's what he does the thing with simian And everything's going great But then he sends them back again that second time But the only problem is is that he tells his people put my cup of divination in their sacks Okay with benjamin and benjamin's sacks, okay He puts it in the sack and then he's like, all right now go after them So they go and they're like you guys stole the cup of divination and they're like no way whoever's you know sack It's in you know, let them whatever and so and then they cut the sack of benjamin and the cup falls out And keep in mind. Jacob's like you cannot take benjamin. I've already lost joseph And then are you gonna bereave me of benjamin too? And it just so happens that the couple's in benjamin's sack So now the guys are like, oh like we're losing benjamin like man and then throughout this whole time They're like, you know why this is happening to us, right? It's because of what we did to joseph So they know they're like man. This is happening just because of what we did to joseph I told you not to do that to joseph. I told you when that guy was crying out for his life We shouldn't have done this to him. So they're just going back and forth And obviously joseph, you know, he's he's doing all this stuff So they come back He gives him a hard time about it He's like getting on them and they're just like no we didn't even know and the money The money was in our sack and so was that we don't know how the cup got there And quite frankly when i'm reading this i'm like, yes Get him Yes, do it again joseph do it again Get another brother, you know And you know Here's the thing with this story As I feel like I feel like god didn't really condemn joseph for it Does anybody get that feeling when you read it like he just kind of lets him Do it He kind of he kind of winks at it Go kind of give them a taste of their own medicine I mean joseph, you know, he he loves his brothers, but he's just you got to put yourself in his sandals He's like man these guys sold me They took me away from my homeland for my dad They they hated me they envied me and all I was trying to do was save them get where i'm coming where i'm going here So obviously once he gives them a hard time he eventually does what he reveals himself, okay And I skipped a lot of the story But i'm just kind of giving you a synopsis verse one says then joseph could not refrain himself Before all them that stood by him And he cried caused every man to go out from me and there stood no man with him while joseph made himself known into his brother And he wept out loud and the egyptians in the house of pharaoh heard And joseph said unto his brethren. I am joseph That's my father yet live And his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence So, you know, he's like Takes off that little pharaoh thing takes off the little chin the little chin strap And he's like i'm joking. I mean just think about how his brothers felt They're just like troubled at his presence meaning they're just like this is this I can't believe this Because they're all thought they all thought like he's just probably died. He's a slave somewhere joseph said verse four Joseph said unto his brother and come near to me. I pray you and they came near and he said I am joseph your brother whom ye sold into egypt Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither And I want you to notice this powerful phrase for god did send me before you to preserve life Now that puts a gulp in my throat right there Because joseph is basically saying like you thought evil against me but I know why this all happened to me and it's just like it's to save everyone So he was like allowed to go through such trials and difficulties loneliness betrayal sorrow you know, uh false witnesses And he understood why he's like it did it like my pain was for a purpose. That's what he was saying, you know, it's to preserve life It's a powerful conclusion to come to you know At the end of all this because you know, joseph could have easily just been bitter and just be like And by the way, you guys are all dying today Like, you know, i'm killing all you guys because you guys did me wrong Obviously we see that joseph's not really bitter. Did he mess with his brothers a little bit? Yeah, but they deserved it But he even said there be not angry with yourselves Because they were angry with themselves They're like this has happened to us because of what we did to joseph Go to genesis 50 So You know, he ends up revealing himself. They have a great reunion And you know, he tells the pharaoh of this pharaoh is just ecstatic for joseph He commands him to go get his father and all of israel. They end up coming to stay in the best of the land And man, they just they end up getting Saved physically speaking from the famine because of joseph and of course jacob is really happy He's like he's thinking this whole time his son died right That he was torn in pieces of a beast And he's like wow, i'm gonna be able to see my son before I die Like it's just a very powerful story in that regard So they come and they meet pharaoh and you know, they end up living there for years and of course Jacob ends up dying because he's already old he dies And when he dies the brothers are really scared now Because they're thinking to themselves Dad was the only one keeping joseph from like killing us Right, so they're fearful that after the death of jacob joseph's gonna be like, all right now no one's here to protect you You're on my turf, right? But look at verse 15 and when joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead they said joseph will prevent or hate us It will certainly require us all the evil which which we did unto him And they sent a messenger to joseph saying thy father did command before he died saying So shall he say unto joseph forgive I pray thee the trespass of thy brethren and their sin For they did evil unto the evil and now we pray thee Forgive the trespass of the servants of the god of thy father and joseph wept when they spake unto him now I don't really know if jacob actually said this We don't really know he might have made it up, but it's possible regardless joseph Felt a great amount of compassion for his brothers When he heard that because he says that he wept When they spake unto him because he realizes how fearful they are Verse 18 and his brother also went and fell down before his face and said behold we be thy servants And joseph said unto them fear not For am I in the place of god, but as for you in other words, like I can't judge you for what you've done I'm, not god. I can't destroy you He says but as for you ye thought evil against me but god meant it unto good To bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive He says now therefore fear ye not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly unto them And joseph dolt in egypt. He and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. So we see here that he was willing to pardon Now before I get into the application Of this last point I want to show you how joseph pictures jesus here Because egypt in the bible is a picture of the world right Joseph was sent to egypt to preserve life and to save much people alive And the bible says in john 3 17 for god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world But that the world through him might be saved So just as joseph was sent to egypt which is a picture of the world to preserve life in like manner God the father sent his son jesus christ to the world Right to essentially give everlasting life to save much people alive through his death baron resurrection But the application that we can learn from this is that learn to forgive It's important to learn how to pardon people For the wrong that they've done unto you And I think all of us could attest to someone who wronged us greatly But can you really say that they wronged you as much as they wronged joseph? I mean joe this took up a chunk. I mean basically his childhood is just gone His teenage years into his early adult years were all spent just surviving away from his family being forgotten right And in spite of the accumulation of trials that he went through what was his final what was his final attitude? Don't be angry with yourselves I'm here to preserve you i'm here to bless you Because I know that all things work together for good to them to love god You know why you should forgive your offender Because all things work together for good to them to love god And the evil that was done unto you The wickedness that was done unto you God can take those ingredients of wickedness and evil and just make something good out of it But you got to forgive That's why the bible says be kind tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake has forgiven you Here we find a very powerful story Of a young man and his temptations and you know what he did pass with flying colors In spite of the fact that he was envy conspired against sold lied about Forgotten about he came out on top At the very end and you know what what if joseph didn't respond the right way What if joseph just became bitter and angry and malicious? He probably never would have been able to save his dad He probably wouldn't have been able to save his brothers He would just wouldn't have been able to save egypt period but because he responded well God used him in a great way not just to save egypt, but to be a wonderful picture of the lord. Jesus christ Amen, let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word and thank you for joseph lord We look forward to meeting him one day And I pray that you'd help us all to have that same disposition that joseph had Help us to view all things in life, especially the hurts and the sorrows through the lens of How you can use it in the future for something good and obviously our uh perspective can be limited We can often look at the trials that we're experiencing And come to the conclusion that no good can come out of it but quite frankly We know for a fact based upon the bible and the testimonies of the lord That you can do abundantly above all that we can ask or think and I pray you help us as we go on our way Lord, thank you for the wonderful pictures in the old testament of our savior. Jesus christ, and may you bless us as we go on our way We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in jesus name. Amen