(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, so Genesis 39 now, and we were in Genesis 38 last week, which was a brief break from Joseph, just after the story Joseph had started pretty much, to see the story of Judah and his offspring, and what an absolute mess it was, right? And Judah got a Canaanitish woman, if you remember, and that was just a recipe for disaster. His sons ended up being bad. One was killed by God simply for being wicked, the other was slain by God for basically refusing to raise up seed to his brother, taking his widowed wife, Tamar, but refusing to give her children. And which is another application, by the way, there too, that there are these men out there that want the physical relationship but not the children, and there's a lot of those guys out there as well, right? And that's pretty wicked, isn't it, you know? They want to get the physical relationship with, you know, whether it's a wife, or a lot of the time nowadays not, but then they don't want the children that come with that, and this was what we see here, but some will get married and then just refuse to give their wives more children as well sometimes, as well, and there are men out there like that. And of course I'm not talking about those families with physical and health reasons, okay, for that. I went into it last week, how this story doesn't suddenly apply to all forms of family planning, okay? A lot of people like a sort of one-size-fits-all, you know, a black and white, and it's not as clear as that, okay? Ultimately it was a rebellious young man refusing to have children with his new wife because they would count as a seed for his dead brother, okay? That's clear as day there, right? However, children are a blessing, and in this church we at least want to encourage, where possible, big families, okay? We want to encourage that. However, we don't then have to kind of, you know, make a story into something. It's not necessarily because of that, because it's clear that God says they're a blessing, okay? And that's clear, and if you want a blessing then great, but some people for other reasons aren't able to have that. We looked at how Judah's worldly friend, Hera the Edulamite, was alongside him for this whole mess of a story, and what we saw there with this sort of, this worldly friend and what a mess, you know, he got himself into with, or at least he was part of Judah getting into. But as we get into Joseph's life, there is an interesting comparison there. You've got Judah, okay, basically who hasn't been nearly killed by his brothers, or at least they were about to, not sold into slavery, not then imprisoned to, and some would say, look, Joseph got it tough, right? A lot of people would look at what happened to Joseph in the chapter 4 and go, that was pretty rough, but Judah's life ended up being a complete train wreck. So Judah didn't go through any of that stuff. He's got this train wreck of a life, sin, heartbreak, chastisement, all the way through, whilst the godly Joseph, with all of those trials that we're going to read about in the next, you know, several chapters as well, is blessed all the way through into a great ending. And the point being that after such a mess, you know, sorry, the point being that even with, you know, all of kind of all lacking all of those other issues that Joseph went through, Judah still ends up in a massive mess, massive mess of a life, and we can often look at things and go, well, you know, that must, Joseph must be getting chastised. Well, he wasn't, was he? But what he did do is he came out with great, great blessings after it all. But even with that mess, Tamar eventually tricking Judah into impregnating her, if you remember that from last week, she gave birth to twins, of which one brother became the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Boaz. And who was, by the way, the great-grandfather of David, and eventually from that line came Christ. So even with all of that, still we saw good come from it, because God could do amazing things with all sorts of messed up situations. The last few verses said this in the chapter of 4. Verse 27 says, And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb, and it came to pass when she travailed, that the one put out his hand, and a midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. And it came to pass, he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, How hast thou broken forth this breach be upon thee? Therefore his name was called Phares. And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was called Zara. And in Genesis 39 and verse 1 begins with, And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the garden of Egypt, brought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down. I'm going to pray before we carry on with the message. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this great chapter of the Bible, Lord, and a chapter which we can learn so much from, Lord, so much practical application here. Please help me to preach all of that in a way that people would just really take it to heart and apply it to their lives, Lord. Just beware of the many pitfalls that we see here. And the other truths we can get from this chapter, please, Lord, help me to preach those clearly and accurately and boldly for whom with the Spirit, please, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Okay, so it said here, And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the garden Egyptian, brought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. So Joseph, remember, had been sold by his brothers as a slave, okay, if you missed that a couple of chapters ago. Genesis 37, 28 said, Then they passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt. And when the brothers discussed it in years to come, they remembered the anguish that Joseph suffered. And it's just because, you know, and we touched upon this a couple of chapters ago, it's easy to read these stories and not think about that. These are real people. There's a 17-year-old kid going through this. Genesis 42, 21 says, And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother. This is further on now, when they're looking back on what had happened, in that we saw the anguish of his soul. When he besought us and we would not hear, Therefore is this distress come upon us. So this 17-year-old kid was beseeching his brothers and was sold as a slave, to then go on a journey that just to the border of Egypt was over 200 miles from where they were at this point. That's around 50 hours of travelling at walking pace, the best part of a week. Imagine the fear of what was to come. Imagine what must have been going through his head. He's to be sold as a slave. He's enslaved now. He's basically unable to get away. He doesn't know what's coming. He's just being taken as, basically, as just like an object, a bit of meat, basically, taken down to Egypt, not knowing what's going to happen next. He was eventually purchased by an Egyptian officer called Potiphar. It said in verse 1 again, And Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the garden of Egypt, and brought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And if you're a righteous guy like Joseph, it doesn't mean that you will avoid tribulation, but what it does mean is that God will be there to help you through. Okay, and that's what we see with Joseph here. He didn't avoid all the stuff that people can go through in life, but God's with him the whole way through. It said in verse 2, And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. So even as a slave, you can be prosperous. Basically, he prospered in the things that he did. Was it because he was the fittest, the strongest, the cleverest slave? It was because the Lord was with him. It said it was because the Lord was with him. But the Lord was with him. Why? Because he was upright. Because he was diligent. I'm sure that he was a great worker. Okay, I'm sure that Joseph was a great worker, but you could be a great worker and still be a lousy Christian, and you won't then be prosperous. So you can be great at your job, you can put a load of effort into your job and not put effort into the things of God, and you're still not going to prosper. You're not going to prosper when it comes to the things that really matter. Verse 3 said, And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And I see another connection there between Potiphar seeing that the Lord was with Joseph and that God made everything that Joseph did prosper. Because, look, God wants our employers, okay, he wants our family, our friends, to see that God is with us too. And I'm not talking about by putting a fish badge on your car. That's not what he wants to see, okay? In fact, don't put a fish badge on your car, okay? If you take nothing else to say, don't put a fish badge on your car, okay? But he would do that. You see them around, it's madness, isn't it? It's not that he doesn't want your employer's family and friends to see that God is with you just by you wearing a cross. No, you can wear a cross if you want, but that's not what he's talking about. It's not because, oh, well you talk about your church. And not just, and only because you just happen to try and share the Gospel with them. That's not how someone sees that the Lord is with you. Turn to 1 Peter 2. Now, most of that isn't wrong, other than the fish bit, yeah? But your Master isn't seeing that the Lord is with you if you're dishonest at work. So if you're dishonest at work, if you sneak around at work, if you try and get away with doing a bit less, if you think that when, look, I've been a boss and many other people have been a boss in the workplace, and you know when someone's slack and trying to just put on a show in front of you. You usually start to get the idea because you just start to see, wait a second, that level of work that they're doing in front of me isn't getting, the product isn't there for that level that seems to be there when I look at them. You just start to get an inkling, a good boss should anyway, because you're trying to get productivity the whole time. And if you're dishonest, you're just trying to sneak around, do less, try and look like you're busy in front of people, you're dishonest in other ways and stuff like that, your Master isn't seeing that the Lord is with you. If you're always late to work, your Master's not seeing that the Lord is with you, is he? Because that's what we want to see, you want to see, ultimately we should be a shining light in the workplace and not just because, well I happened to try and show the Gospel, I asked my boss if he wanted to hear the Gospel so now you know I'm a shining light. If you're lazy at work, you're not showing that the Lord is with you, are you? If you're just lazy, you're bone-eyed, you try and get away with doing the bare minimum, you drag your heels around, you're just slumped wherever you go. If you're unreliable, and there are people that maybe look, they could do other things, they're just unreliable, they just say they'll be there, they're not there. They'll say that they're meant to be at work and it's a sick day every couple of weeks, every few weeks, they've got some excuse, some reason, and there's always an excuse, always an excuse why they're late, it's just funny because then there are people that are there every single time that they're meant to be there and there's not a hundred excuses. How about if you're part of the whinging gang, is that showing that the Lord is with you? Because there's a whinging gang in a lot of workplaces, aren't there? The ones that just constantly moan and whisper and whinge about whoever the line manager is, whoever the boss is, they're just constantly – and they know that you're doing that, because they see the face when they come along, when the boss comes along and just sees everyone go a bit quiet suddenly, they look a bit awkward and a bit uncomfortable, it's because you've been whinging about them, right? And that's not a good testimony, is it? Your master sees that the Lord is with you by your work ethic, that's how he sees the Lord is with you. He sees the Lord is with you by your honesty, by your punctuality, by your uprightness, that's how your master sees that the Lord is with you. By your abstaining from the fleshly lusts that everyone else is pretty much chasing after, by you just being something different, that's how we show that the Lord is with us. Because it can be the opposite, it's a bad testimony when you want to talk about God, you want to talk about church, you want to try and preach the Gospel, but you're just a lousy excuse for a Christian. And then, really, the way of truth is starting to be evil spoken of because of you, and that's a bad place to be, isn't it? That's a shame, isn't it? What a shame for a man of God to be like that, and a woman of God as well. 1 Peter 2 says, Dearly beloved, I beseech you, I'm pleading with you, as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation honest. Now, conversation is really talking about your behaviour. Having your behaviour honest among the Gentiles, your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. You say, well, my boss, my friend, my family member is a write-off, they reject the Gospel, and a lot of us feel like that sometimes, don't we? We just say, I've tried, they're not interested, you know, no chance. Must be a reprobate, you know. Sometimes people just try, it's easier to just cast them off or something, right? But when they're humbled, when things aren't good, it's, and that's what I think it's talking about with the day of visitation, it's that day when they're staring their mortality in the face. Maybe they'll think again. Because there's a day, there's, look, and sometimes there's more than one day. There's more than one day of visitation for many people in life. And you'd be amazed, you talk to someone, I talked to someone recently who, it was just perfect timing, the person said, I've actually been thinking about God since my dad died. And that could be the day of visitation for some, can't it? It'd be like, my dad's died, and I used to be into all this Buddha stuff, but I know that's a load of junk, and I've been thinking and seeking God more. Is there heaven and hell? What do I have to do to go to heaven? And that's great when you come across someone like that, right? Okay? And what is that? Ultimately, that's the day of visitation for me. That's what I think he's talking about here. That they shall behold that and glorify God on the day of visitation, and point being that there are people that would have heard the Gospel. They've rejected the time, there's, you know, for whatever reason, they're not interested, and then that day comes. There's that humble time, there's that time when they're staring mortality in the face, when they're thinking about the things of God, and that's when you want them to look back and glorify God. And that's why I think sometimes we talk about that seed being sown, where there are people that maybe they're not a write-off, right? And yeah, look, there are those who hear the Gospel, harden their hearts, and that's it, but there are those that don't, maybe. When they're humbled, I think that's what it's talking about, and he said, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King as supreme, unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well, for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. And the workplace for me, and it's not just the workplace, but the workplace is a big long-term mission field for us too, I think. And you go, well, you know, I'm only around one person in the workplace, so what? How valuable is that soul, right? And if you can be a shine light, if your conversation is honest among that person, your behaviour is just honest, they just see that difference in you, then everyone else, then maybe they will think about you and think about those things, think about that Gospel you managed to share with them in that day, right? And just bear in mind, don't go too far the other way, because there are people that go too far the other way, you start going, it's lifestyle evangelism, we don't go out and preach the Gospel, we're just shining light in the workplace. And I mentioned God once, they never know they might become a Christian. Okay, obviously we're not gonna go that far. Okay, but Potiphar, he saw two things here, he said in verse three, and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And he seems pretty aware of who's with him, doesn't he? Notice it did make it clear that it was the Lord with him, not some God, he didn't see that he was a godly guy, he didn't see that there was some difference, no, he saw the Lord was with him. I'm sure that Joseph had shared at least with him who the Lord was, I believe, but you know, again, that's speculation. Verse 4 says, and Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. So it's going well for Joseph, he's gone from destitute slave to overseer of the house of one of Pharaoh's captains. That's a Rags to Riches story, really, isn't it? Okay, amazing. And in what, we don't know how long that period of time is, but it's amazing, really, and it's obviously it's because the Lord is with him through this, and like I said, I believe the Lord is with, one reason the Lord's with him is because he's with the Lord as well, right? He's drawing nigh to God. But verse 6 says, and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not aught he had save the bread which he did eat, when Joseph was a goodly person and well favoured. So he trusts Joseph so much that Joseph is controlling all of his affairs, his finances, his household, I mean, you've got to have some trust for someone to do all of that, haven't you, right? Especially someone that was previously a slave. And goodly, by the way, when applied to people, seems to be, I think in this case, probably pleasant to look at in some way. Have a quick look at Exodus 2, just on this. So it can apply to many things, like clothing, which is its first use in Genesis 27 and 15, which says, and Rebecca took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in a house and put them upon Jacob, her younger son, so with the old dressing-up game that they played, it was goodly raiment. But in Exodus 2, too, it seems to be about how someone looks, and it, referring to the baby Moses, it says in Exodus 2 and verse 2, and the woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. So I think it's probably talking about the fact that he's a very cute kid and everything else, that's what I think. So Joseph seems to be probably lightly handsome, he's well favoured, he's popular, you kind of see why his brothers hated him, right? But is it all plain sailing from here? Of course not. The Christian life isn't like that, is it? You might, here's the thing with the Christian life, yeah, you might want it to be, and I think probably we do, because the flesh wants it to be, for good reason, okay, wants it to be like the, you know, like one of those just nice easy, not even rollercoaster, you know, like the kids fun fair stuff, where it just goes around slowly, it's got all this cool stuff, so the kids are like, wow, but you're thinking, okay, this is a good one for the young one, because it's got all the aeroplanes and helicopters and they all look like these exciting things, and then they get in it and it just goes like this, you know, just round and round, it's very relaxing, it's very calming, and they think this looks great, and then after a while they get a bit bored and they think, yeah, I got swindled here, didn't I? Should have gone the more exciting ride, yeah? And we want the Christian life to be like that, really, don't we? We just want this nice, relaxed time. But the reality of it is, is that it's more like that, just absolute horrendous rollercoaster, where you're surprised there's not blood on the seats, and it's, you know, you just, you don't know how anyone even survives it, and that's kind of like the Christian life, really, though, isn't it? And, no, I'm not trying to put you off it, because it's just, that's just life, isn't it? At the end of the day, you want it to be relaxing, but it's not. It's up and down, it's upside down, it's spinning round, it's screaming while you're hanging upside down for about ten minutes, wondering if the thing's broken, and, you know, is this really how it's meant to be? But, but here's the thing, is that with all of that, though, with all of that, you can be guided through the whole thing. So it's like going through that rollercoaster, but, you know, you know that it is a hundred percent safe. You've seen the safety certificates, yeah? It's had thousands of years of testing done on it, and you will get to your location, right? Which is up there, okay? It says, and it came to pass off these things, and here we go, ready for the rollercoaster for poor old Joseph. He's already been sold as a slave. It's like, he's got up to, it's like, finally, God just showed me, you know, I've come for being a slave. I'm now, like, second in command in Potiphar's house, and then it's like, uh-oh, Joseph, there's still more in store for you, boy. And it came to pass off these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, lie with me. What a wicked adulterous woman. And she's a real-life example, this woman is a real-life example of all the many warnings we read in the early chapters of Proverbs, isn't she? About the strange woman, what a danger she is. Proverbs 2, 16, I have to turn there, says that the wisdom, discretion, knowledge and understanding from God's Word is to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words. Proverbs 23, 27 says, for a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit, yeah? And Joseph recognises this. So Joseph isn't foolish, he's, I mean, we don't know, you know, obviously he was sold as a slave at 17, we don't know how long it took to become this ruler of Potiphar's house. However, what we do know is that he's at least wise to a degree at this point. It says in verse 8, but he refused, and said unto his master's wife, behold, my master what is not what is with me in the house, and he's committed all that he hath to my hand, there is 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 sin against God? And just a great example from Joseph of what would have been the worst part of that sin, is sinning against God. That's the most important part. It's not that he's going, oh well, you know, but Potiphar's gonna really not like me, I might lose my job. It's like, how could I do that against God? And that's how we should think, isn't it? That's how we should think about all sin. How could I do that against God? Not, oh, what if someone sees me? Or what if I get embarrassed? Or what if, how about, how can I do that? He said, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It makes you think of the words of David. You don't have to turn to Psalm 51. If you remember, it's a psalm that's written after, you know, Nathan's coming and basically he's been exposed, really. He's preached to him about what he did with Bathsheba and then sending Uriah the Hittite off to die. He said to God, against thee, thee only, in Psalm 51, for have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speaks and be clear when thou judges. Because God's the most important person, isn't He? God is. Because it's not about whether we might get caught ashamed in our sin. It's not about whether or not, well, I don't know if the church is gonna find out that I'm in that sin, which should get me kicked out of church. As long as no one knows, it's alright. As long as I get away with it, it doesn't matter. No, it does matter. Because it's about what God sees, and His eyes are everywhere beholding the evil and the good. And here he said, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And David said, against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And whether or not we might bear the consequences of it, really that pales in comparison to God seeing it. Whether we might even upset the person we sin against. Yeah, we should care about other people, but again, it pales in comparison of greater importance that we're sinning against God. And adultery is a wicked sin. He didn't just say wicked, he said great wickedness. How then can I do this great wickedness? That's how wicked it is. No, it's not a little affair. No, it's not a fling. No, it's not, you know, well, he's just, you know, he's got wandering eyes, just one of those guys. No, he's a wicked adulterer. Oh, she's just, you know, she just likes male attention. She's a wicked whore. That's what these people are. And we just think it's such a bizarre world now, don't we, where you've just got adulterers, and I mean, the King of England is just an adulterer, he seems to be a completely unrepentant adulterer, and there's so much wickedness, isn't there? But this, by the way, is long before the Law of Moses commanded the death penalty, because it's just universally understood. Joseph didn't need the Law of Moses to understand that it was great wickedness. Great wickedness, to have done that with his master's wife would have been great wickedness, right? And like I said, just to remind you, Joseph is probably a teen or young man at this point. Unmarried, okay? No, there's no evidence, you know, obviously he had a wife or anything else like that at this point, and I'm sure that many in his position probably would have justified it, let's be honest. There are many young men out there who would have just gone, oh, you know, at the end of the day, she's probably just going to find someone else anyway, or something else, especially when the temptation isn't just once. So that's what we see here. It says in verse 10, It came to pass that she spake to Joseph day by day. That's a daily temptation that he's under, that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her, or to be with her. So she, for me, she's trying it all. Oh, just lie by me. Just be near me. You know, he refused it all, and he's doing the right thing, okay? Keep away, don't go anywhere near. Basically, like men out here, whether you're, you know, whether you're single or married or whatever, just don't put yourself to the test. Just keep away. Women like that, situations like that, you just keep yourself away. You go, oh, no, you should be strong enough to be able to deal with it. What are you talking about? Yeah, like, the Spirit's strong, but I'll tell you what, the flesh is weak, okay? You just, and the way you're strong is by never putting yourself in any situation where there could even be a possibility. You just keep yourself away from any, any possibility. Because what, what, here's one of the issues here. The problem for some men, and this will include Christian men, comes after the familiarity over time. This is a problem. There are people that, that men and women, both ways, wouldn't have ever looked at twice, and then they start spending day after day after day after day together, and with the familiarity comes more of a possibility of this sort of thing. It's not usually someone they just met five minutes before. He's been living in a, in that house, as second-in- command, basically, of that house, and maybe that's what's attracted her to him, or maybe she's just a wicked whore, most likely, or probably both, but for him there's more of a temptation, because it's day after day that she's trying to tempt him as well. And it is, it's a familiarity, it's the time spent with someone of the opposite gender that's not your wife, and obviously close family as well. And, and let me tell you what, what makes that difficult, okay? Women in the workplace makes this situation a lot more difficult to avoid for many people out there. It's women in the workplace, working in the, in close confines with the opposite gender for 40 hours plus a week a lot of the time. A lot of men spend more time with the females in their workplace than with their wives, and you, let's be honest, is that, is it rare that people end up, affairs in the workplace, what they call it in the world, vile wicked adultery in the workplace, is I think the most common place for it. I think that's kind of, that's a big one, isn't it? I remember seeing a stat on this, I'm not going to try and quote it because I get it wrong, but basically that's where it's most common. It's in the workplace, working in close confines with people of the opposite gender, day after day after day. It's a recipe for disaster, isn't it? So it's a massive recipe for disaster. And it's one of those things that we have to take heed about, but I would say it's, look, it's one of those things we have to take heed about. So, and you could go, well, what can I do? Because my job, they've just employed some woman who now has to work next to me, by me, you know, near my, whatever it is, my office or here, whatever it is, there's a thousand different, even more situations you can think of. What do I do? Take heed. Like, think about, maybe I need to get a new job, maybe I need to try and change my role, maybe I need to do something because it's not sensible. Oh, it doesn't matter, I love my wife, or I'm not married and, you know, she's married but I would never do that to someone's wife. This stuff happens all the time. All the time in workplace by people that I'm sure didn't set out to do that. Because they don't take heed, because it's not natural, it's not normal to spend that many hours a day, every day, with someone that's not your wife. It's not. And this stuff happens, you just got to, you've got to respect that and go, okay, because that would, that would ruin your life. That was a death penalty sin. How do you think God, you know some people say things like this, they go, I don't know if you ever heard this criticism, say you kick someone out for fornication, but, you know, adultery. Now, personally I believe adultery is covetousness anyway, so I would boot someone out for adultery anyway. However, a repentant, genuinely repentant, of any one of those sins we'd potentially have back in the church. But what on earth, look, they should have been killed, yeah, but how do you think God's gonna deal with that? When you boot someone out, which, which we would, for being a covetous adulterer, how do you think, you think that person is gonna like, have a nice little time of it, you know, the white, they're going, oh, but you can't even divorce him, or vice versa, he can't even divorce her because God hates divorce. Yeah, but what do you think God's gonna do to that person? Considering he expected his civil government to put them to death, they're gonna get it bad. The chastisement will be severe, and look, that's, I mean, what a horrendous situation that would be for you, for whether you're married or not married, for their marriage, like, well, it's just horrendous. That's why we've got to, like, give it the amount of respect it needs and just avoid being in those situations. And the other thing we've got to think about is being alone with someone that's not your spouse in general, okay, because it's not just the workplace. Verse 11, it says, and it came to pass about that time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within, 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, there's two ways of looking at this, okay. You could say that this was a fatal error by Joseph to have been there alone with her. You could say that, or you could say perhaps he wasn't aware until it was too late. Maybe he couldn't have avoided it, maybe didn't even know that she was the only one in there. I don't know. Either way, there is a big lesson here, isn't there? And the lesson here is don't end up alone with members of the opposite sex unless you're married to them. Just don't be alone with it. And again, I'm not talking about siblings and stuff like that, but just don't be alone, right. Why would you be alone? It's such a recipe for disaster, not because you're going to suddenly have some adulterous relationship, but because of the many issues that come from that. And like I said, it's not just about adultery. I would include as singles too, because there's a temptation of fornication. So when you're alone and there's no one else around and there's no chaperone or no one at all, there's just more chance of that stuff. That's just reality. Because not only will the temptation be that much stronger if you're alone together, but there's also the issue that you've got no witnesses to false accusations. And that's a big problem as well. So not only, because when you're alone with someone and you're alone with something like that, what, you think that stuff isn't going to pop into that fleshly mind of people? It just, that's a sad truth. And they might be able to just flush that out and cast it off as a foolish thought, but when that starts to happen more and more and those thoughts start getting a hold and that turns into more of a thought and people start to dwell on those things, that's when you've got massive problems. And do you know how it's avoided? Just don't, just make a rule in your life, I'm not going to be alone with a member of the opposite sex, unless it's my wife. Make that a rule. It's quite easy to do, really. Just avoid it. Now, just, you can go like, you know, you always have to, well you don't have to, but I like to give these caveats because sometimes you just get people are like, just kind of extremists, okay? So they're like, not talking to any woman at church, you know, I don't even say hi to them because I don't want to be alone. It's like, we're in a church, you idiot. You know, there's witnesses everywhere, there's people everywhere, you don't have to be rude to each other, okay? But what you shouldn't be doing is hanging around in a room privately with them, 100%. And there are the issues of false accusations. Look at verse 13, it says, And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them, saying, See, he had brought in in Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. And 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, this woman's wickedness just gets worse and worse. Now she's just outright lying about this man, or young man. And there are bad people out there that would just lie through their teeth about you. That's just the reality of it, okay? They will just make something up and lie about you. And it's hard, like, when you first experience that, and maybe you've experienced that when you're younger and stuff as well sometimes, but as an adult as well, when you experience these, just, what on earth? How do people live with themselves? How do they behave like that who would just lie through their teeth about you? And then, as well, notice the disdain she clearly has for her husband. It says in verse 13, It came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. So she's blaming her husband for bringing Joseph in, who hadn't done any of that. I mean, this woman is just pure wickedness, but she's not, this isn't rare. This is, oh well, there's like a one in a million like this. They're everywhere, these types of people. Just pure wicked, nasty, just pieces of junk. That's what she is really, who will just lie about people, blame it on their husband for whatever. I mean, what a wicked, wicked woman she is, right? But notice also what one of the objectives of her lies ends up being. I have no doubt what this woman is. Look what she says. She says, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. What was an Hebrew? Well, in Genesis 14, turn there if you want, it's a quick verse there. Abraham was referred to by the narrator, the Holy Spirit, as Abram the Hebrew. Genesis 14, 13 says, And there came one that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in a plane of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol and brother of Reiner, and these were confederate with Abram. Now, some think that the name is derived from Abraham's ancestor, Eber, or could be known as Heba. In others, it is from a word meaning to pass over, being a traveller, or even more specifically as a passer-through or sojourner. Okay, so there's a few different theories as to where that came from, the word Hebrew. But I'll tell you what Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph as Hebrews were known as. They were known as the Lord's people. These were God's people. And these were some pretty famous men of God, by the way, as well. If you remember the sheer wealth they had and everything else, and they were clearly God's people. And we see all the stuff they're doing, their burning sacrifices, and really they're saved as well. It's going down the line, and we see examples and pictures of them preaching the gospel and tithing to the house of God and all these different things. These were God's people. And that's basically what she's saying. She's saying, in her rejection, in her anger at the rejection, in her wounded ego, in her embarrassment, she's slandering God's people. That's what she's doing. Turning heads against this man of God and ruining his testimony and affecting God working through him as well. We just looked at what a great testimony was in the workplace. What this guy, you know, how Potiphar saw this great, you know, just all the great things about him, and he gave him everything into his hand, and saw that the Lord was with him, and then she's just completely turned that round, and ultimately it's bringing shame upon God. Because she's going to look at what this Hebrew did. Basically, translation, nowadays look at what this Christian is doing. Look at what this Christian did. And isn't that what the devil's children are constantly doing? Accusing us, slandering us, muddying our names one way or another. Some of it's subtle, some of it's not so subtle, some of it's just outright blatant. Some of it's just ridiculous, but you know what? If they throw enough of it, some sticks, doesn't it? And that's what they do, just it's just constant, constant. Look at this Christian, look at this Christian. The open God-hater will say so-called Christian, won't they? They'll just be like, so-called Christian, and look at them, they did this or that, right? And God forbid they actually have something with some meat to it, right? But the more covert God-hater will say, for example, look at those NIFB types. So they'll act as if they're really a true Christian, and look at those NIFB types, they're so whatever, they're this or that, usually it's so unloving is the usual one or something else, you know, because we preach the Bible, right? Or now, you could even go further, look at those strong tower lot. Oh, it's a strong tower lot, you know, because they're not like the NIFB, you know, someone who claims to be NIFB will be like, well it's his strong tower Baptist lot, you know, they're a different type, they're the worst type for whatever reason, yeah? And really they're just looking for a way to slander us, and here it just took him being briefly alone and her getting his piece of clothing, okay? That's all it took, and then that was enough for her to slander with, because that's what they're often doing, is they're just looking for something, something they can grab a hold of, something they can work with, and she got it in a piece of his clothing, and they're just looking for anything to then make the slander sound believable. That's what they do. Some of these people spend years doing this to you, just trying to work something for me, get something, get some info, get something, get whatever they can to grab hold of something so they can go, look at God's man, look at whoever it is, and just try and completely trash you. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called, verse 14, that she called unto the men of her house, spake unto them, saying, See hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice, and 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. Another thing here which is an interesting trend that we see with these people is the shameless projection. I mean, this is some of the most shameless projection you could really see, isn't it? And of course, because 1 Timothy 4-2 says about them speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, because you've got to have your conscience seared, really, to be this ridiculously hypocritical. I mean, this is unbelievable, isn't it? She's accusing him of exactly what she's guilty of, yet that's what they do. This is one of the ones that I've found really hard to get my head around with some of these people, and the more you learn and see and experience these types of people, it's them accusing you of exactly what they're doing, exactly what they have behaved like, or exactly the things that they've said or done, and they're accusing you of it. It's amazing. It is really amazing, because that is some warped person, isn't it, to be throwing an accusation out at someone that they know full well is what they were doing. Unbelievable, isn't it? And I've seen this many times now, and this is what she's doing. Just amazing. Verse 16, and she laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home, and she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, so again, translation, the Christian, which thou has brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me. So again, notice the knock-on effect is God's people get slandered as a whole, okay? Now you say, yeah, but he didn't do anything. It's unavoidable, right? But there are lessons that we can learn from this. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5, okay, where Paul gives the Thessalonians the standalone verse of instruction. 1 Thessalonians 5, and we're going to look from verse 21, and there's like lots of in 1 Thessalonians 5, just like sort of these individual verses, and it's a great instruction there. Verse 21 says this, Paul says, Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil. Now there are two ways of applying that, okay? Number one is abstain or refrain from anything that could be evil or bad, anything that appears to be that even could be, right? Or number two, abstain or refrain from anything that makes you look like you could be doing something evil or bad, yeah? And I would err on the side of caution and apply it in both ways. So keep away from things that could be bad, and keep away from things that make you look bad. I think that's probably just a good way of dealing with that, right? For example, say I'm desperate for the toilet, I was thinking about this one, just some ideas, yeah? Say I'm desperate for the toilet in Southend somewhere. It could be anywhere, but especially just because we have a church here, there's people here that, you know, know that obviously I'm the pastor of this church, etc. And I go past just like some sort of it, and when I say we were talking about this earlier, there are pubs that are kind of restaurants really, right? But there are pubs that are just like, just like boozing bars, yeah? And say I'm desperate for the toilet, I go past one of those and I just want to use their toilet. I know that if I walk in, no one's even gonna notice me, I just walk in, use their toilet, walk back out. Would that be a sensible thing to do? Now I've got no temptation to booze, I've got no temptation to get a drink, that's not the issue. The issue is, is that that's gonna give the appearance of evil. And do you know what could come from that? Is someone around here, or someone who may be, may be saved, maybe not, maybe even one of our church members sees that and starts to just, and they've got an issue, they can't really be in a pub because they've got some real like, you know, booze issues, right? And they think, they know, they start to justify going in those sorts of places. Well, past the tavern who went in there, well it can't be that much of a problem, and they start to justify, or maybe even they start to convince themselves that I must have been in there having a cheeky, cheeky drink. But you get what I mean? Now, am I doing anything sinful going in to use a toilet? Probably not, like I said to someone earlier, you know, if you're going in a restaurant where they serve alcohol, now I think there are lines and levels, and I don't, going into some boozing, you know, hellhole isn't a good idea, okay, and is a bad thing, but ultimately, look, you know, you have a line that you draw there, right? But is it sinful to go and use their toilet? I wouldn't say it's sinful, but I tell you what, I'm not abstaining from all appearance of evil, am I? Okay, and that would be a foolish thing to do. Now, this is a principle given, and you don't have to turn there, in 1st Corinthians 8, where Paul is explaining about meat sacrificed to idols, and he says in verse 13, wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. Her point being that there are things that maybe aren't necessarily sinful, but you just wouldn't do them, because it could cause a problem for someone else as well, so it's not just about yourself, yeah, so it might be a bit embarrassing if someone tries to claim I'm a boozer, but you just, you know, it's for other people as well, right, it might make them stumble. But we should also be avoiding, where possible, any attempted shame on the name of Christ, where possible, right? People are going to try and slander you, but you want to avoid, like, anything where you could add to that slander, where possible, and potential believable false accusations, yeah? For example, how about I keep having private meetings in my office with women at this church? Oh, but I know my intentions are pure, I know I'd never even think about that, but would that be a good idea? Just because I know that's pure, even if it would be like, well, I know that, you know, they're not a Potiphar's wife type that would ever falsely accuse me, someone else could start making accusations, couldn't they? Someone else, past the tavern, thinks it's okay to be sitting alone with whoever, and that would just be a foolish thing to do, wouldn't it? It wouldn't be wise, it shouldn't be something that we should do, abstain from all appearance of evil. We should just do our utmost, and maybe, look, maybe if Joseph could go back, maybe he did know, maybe he just thought he'd be okay, he didn't realise this would happen, maybe he could have avoided this situation, I don't know, but unfortunately for him, it didn't happen here. Now, the warnings were already there, weren't they? I mean, this woman was constantly trying to seduce him, seduce him, seduce him, and eventually he gets caught out here. Not caught out, but he didn't sin, but he gets caught out where now there's an appearance of evil, isn't there? Said in verse 17, she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant which thou has brought unto us came in unto me to mock me. She's now the victim. And again, like, this doesn't, like I said, this doesn't even surprise me anymore. Like, because you see this act out, people who literally will go for you, will lie, slander everything else, they're like, but me, me, you know, look what happened to me, look what they've done, and it's like, you're completely deranged. She's now the victim. He came to mock me. So I was like, you poor thing, you imagine, I go, poor Potemar's wife, Mrs. Potiphar, I just can't believe what you've had to endure. What on earth, right? What a freak, yeah? And it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried. She shouted out that he left his garment with me and fled out. And it came to pass for him, as whilst I heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, after this manner 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, poor Joseph, I wonder if he had a chance to tell the truth whilst being arrested. Do you wonder that? He's just throwing out all the... I don't know. But, some would look at this and say, God must have forsaken him, wouldn't they? You know, you can imagine, people would look at this up until this point, if they just seemed like the outside just go, well, he must have been in sin. Of course, I've been preaching about recognising the chastisement of God in life, but it doesn't mean that every time you go through trials and tribulations, you're being chastised either, okay? That's something you can work out. It's not for us to work out with other people, okay? But it is something we should look at, but Joseph wasn't, was he? This wasn't chastisement. This is just Joseph... Really, this is persecution, okay? This is persecution really for the name of Christ, isn't it? Now, said in verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison, and it's a reminder that whatever happens in life, God can help you through it, okay? He's given favour here, okay? And we can get favour from God in any situation. Or, you can get any situations, turn on him, reject God, get angry, and things just get a lot worse. Because here, we see the results of him staying close to God here. God's with him, and I don't think the Lord would have been with him if he was just like, ah, I can't believe he did this to me. You know, what about, you know, I can't believe this happened, you should have stopped that happening, God. Why did you let that happen? But no, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And you could have forgiven Joseph for giving up for being slumped somewhere in depression, couldn't you? Little people would have done, just go, I can't believe this. I've nearly got killed by my brothers, sold as a slave. I managed to kind of get somewhere, and a lot of people would have given themselves a credit going, it was, I did all this hard work, and I was such a diligent worker, I got somewhere, now look at this. Now I'm being falsely accused, and God's let me go through all of this. A lot of people would be like that, wouldn't they? And, but instead, he's back to being the diligent worker, even in prison. It says in verse 22, And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph, 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 he didn't even, he didn't need to even check on what Joseph was doing, because everything that Joseph did prospered. So it's to that point where he's just like, whatever Joseph's dealing with, it's going to work out, yeah. And I mean that's, again, what a great testimony, again. And you're thinking like, well, what are they actually doing? I'd imagine there's probably some sort of production line, like pretty much most prisons do, don't they? I mean, think about like the industrial prison complex, it's, I mean, it's worth billions and billions. It's basically just free work. They give them pennies, apps, like literal pennies, for just day after day. They're in different work, gangs doing different work, making things, producing things. Let's be honest, the prison, the whole prison system, if they did God's punishment, there wouldn't be a prison system. It might, some might be held in ward briefly before going to a very quick judgment, whereas the whole thing is, going to that another day, it's pretty wicked, really, when you look into it. Basically, they're making a lot of money out of people, and imprisoning people and keeping people in prison seems to be very lucrative for a lot of people, a lot of businesses and stuff. But anyway, I'd imagine there was probably something similar, so they probably had them making something, doing something, doing some sort of work, and things are prospering, so he's obviously, you know, having some control over that. And that's not the end here, because I want to indicate, just a couple of bits before we finish, that Joseph picturing Christ hasn't ended. Okay, so we saw that in the last chapter. It continues with events in his life, okay, like here. Really, he escaped the persecution of his brothers, by the way, by being brought into Egypt, and, which is where the young Jesus was taken to escape the persecution from Herod, if you remember as well, okay, just a little kind of starter there. Matthew 2.14 says of Joseph, Mary's husband, when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. You don't have to turn to these verses, I'm just going to quote a few as I go through a few other things here. Potiphar here, at this point, pictures God the Father early on in there. He says, and Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he did he put into his hand, and it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house of Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord is upon all that he had in the house in the field. And John 13.3 says, Jesus known that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he was come from God and went to God. Okay, and I think that we're seeing a picture there of that, of him like picturing Christ and basically just having control of everything. I believe that Potiphar's wife represents the temptation of the devil, like the temptation in the wilderness. It says in verse 7, it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, lie with me, but he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold my master whateth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. And if you remember when the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness, for example in Matthew 4.4, but the answer said, it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Well he continues here, it says in verse 9, there is none greater in this house than I, neither hath he kept back anything for me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And in Matthew 4.7, when he's being tempted in the wilderness, Jesus said unto him, it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. In verse 10, it said where you are, and it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearken not unto her to lie by her, or to be with her. And in Matthew 4.10, we see Jesus, the final response is then said, Jesus unto him, get thee hence Satan. It's not hearkening to him, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Verse 11, where you are, it says, it came to pass 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. And for me, now, what's going to happen is, him losing his garment, for me, pictures him being numbered with the transgressors. It's temporarily losing those robes of righteousness. It's becoming sin for us. It says in verse 12, she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me, and he left his garment in her hand, and fled and got him out. And it came to pass when she saw that he'd left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth. And before we carry on, Mark 15.28 says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which said, and he was numbered with the transgressors. This is him basically being numbered amongst the transgressors, taking on sin for us. That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, see he had brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. False accusation, just like who? The Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 26.59 says, now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death. And eventually they did get false witnesses, didn't they, to put him to death. Same thing here, he's being accused, it's a false accusation. And it came to pass when he heard that I left up my voice, he cried that he left his garment with me, and fled, and he got out. And she laid up his garment by her, until his Lord came home. She spake unto him according to his words, saying, the Hebrew servant which thou has brought unto us came in unto me to mock me. And it came to pass I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me, and fled out. And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, after this manner 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, he was there in the prison. Really, what's he doing? He's paying for someone else's sins. Suffering wrongfully. 1 Peter 3.18 says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust. He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. It says, but the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour 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, whatsoever they did that he was a 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 he's imprisoned, which pictures hell, and he will soon arise out of prison to eventually rule the whole land. Okay, and Acts 2.31 says he's seen this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither the speciality of corruption. That imprisonment is picturing the hell, is picturing Christ's suffering in hell, and eventually he comes out, he's lifted up with his head above everyone else, right? And that for me is... they're not just... there's so many amazing non-coincidences in the Bible, aren't they? They ain't coincidences, alright? Yeah, they're not like clear as day and quoting this and that, but they're enough for me to say that's clearly a lot of pictures there of Jesus Christ, and isn't it just amazing again, right? Just amazing that you get events in history that happened which were picturing events which were to come, you know, a thousand years later, just amazing. So that for me was some more, yeah, some more pictures of Christ. We're gonna see more as we carry on. What a story about Joseph, eh? And a lot of stuff for us to take heed about there as well, and on that we're going to finish in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well, the many warnings and many lessons we can get out of that chapter, Lord, and for us to just take heed to these things and to just treat the temptation, the risk, the, you know, what a great sin that is, to just... it's great wickedness to treat it with the seriousness that we should, Lord, help us to just be, you know, to not, you know, to at least not give those ways, not give our garment, not give just sort of free rein for your enemies to just slander us, Lord, help us to abstain from all appearance of evil, to do our best so that it can, it's more obvious that it is slander when it comes, Lord, help us to just be guarded against these sorts of things, Lord, please protect us, protect us as a church, help us to just keep serving you, to keep living for you, Lord, to resist all these attacks and all these temptations in life and help us to just be more like Joseph, Lord, and help us to to get home safe for sound tonight and to return on Sunday in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.