Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We’ll be picking up in Genesis chapter 39 if you would like to go ahead and be turning there.

It’s been a great day!

Jesus told a parable about the the lost sheep saying asking what man who owns 100 sheep would not leave the 99 to find the one that is lost, and when he finds it he puts it on his shoulders and rejoices and calls his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him, and Jesus said, there’s more joy in heaven over one saved sinner than for 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.

And today we had not one but two!

What a blessing to be involved in the Lord’s work!

That’s why we are here!

We’re all formerly lost sheep looking to bring others back to the Lord.

I want you to think about something.

According to , Noah was a preacher of righteousness during the time that he prepared the Ark and likely before that so let’s say he got a late start and only started preaching at 100 years old, Noah preached righteousness for 500 years and yet the only people who listened to him where his wife, his sons, and his daughters in law.

What we rejoiced about this morning is incredibly special and I hope it will light a fire under all of us to understand and work toward our purpose in life to glorify God and to make Him known.

But as we been studying the story of Joseph and that of Judah last week, we’ve come to realize something that I stated this morning and that is, doing God’s will may not always be easy.

In fact, it might be incredibly difficult.

We might even feel as if God has abandoned us and in those moments you can bet Satan will be in our ears trying to get us to do things our way instead of God’s way.

In chapter 37 we were introduced to a young, perhaps overly confident and brash 17 year old Joseph who was the favorite son of his Father and wasn’t shy about relaying his grand dreams to both his father and his brothers.

We saw how the sons of Jacob conspired to kill Joseph but instead Judah decided that they might as well get something useful for him, and he sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

We then took a detour to look at some interesting events in the life of Judah which would lead to the birth of Perez through whom King David will be born and eventually the Christ, further showing us what’s at stake here in the events of Joseph’s life which we return to in chapter 39 tonight.

The Blessing of an Egyptian Home

Gen 39:1-

The first thing that becomes apparent from chapter 39, is that at long last the LORD is seen as orchestrating the unfortunate events that have befallen Joseph.

In fact, the last time that God was mentioned in a non punishment role was way back in chapter 35! Chapter 36 was a book of geneology of Esau, chapter 37 told us the story of JOseph being sold into slavery but made no mention of the LORD, and in chapter 38 the LORD is only mentioned as having put to death both Er and Onan for being wicked.

Chapter 39

But in chapter 39 we at last learn in v. 2 that the LORD was with Joseph.

That he had been sold into a high ranking officers house and that the LORD made him successful to the point that everyone could apparently see that everything that Joseph did that the Lord made it successful.

I want to stop there for a minute and make a few points.

You know, ever since the first century church, there apparently have been people within the church that for whatever reason, didn’t want to work.

I mentioned this morning

Notice that the Lord here in didn’t miraculously cause things to happen around Joseph, it says that “the LORD caused all that he DID to succeed in his hands.

We aren’t called to fall into idleness and to just wait for the Lord to do something, we must be willing to be people of action, and God will work through that action when it is done in accordance to His will.

Promised all Abraham and Isaac that through them alll nations shall be blessed - see this beginning to be fulfilled in Egypt

So things are looking up for Joseph, he’s had some bad times but here he is the head of a prominent officials household and things seem to be going well, the LORD is with him, but things are about to change for Joseph.

The Temptation

Gen 39:6-

Now we aren’t told how much time passed from the time Joseph was sold into slavery until the time that he was put into Potiphars house, but it likely wasn’t long because slave traders would have wanted to sell a young man pretty quickly to get the highest price out of him.

So we are likely looking at Joseph being around 17 or 18 years old here and yet having some incredible spiritual maturity.

Here’s a young man, who has been sold into his current position, far from home in a strange land surrounded by people who don’t share the same morals and beliefs as he does, and yet he holds fast to that which he was taught as a boy.

You know what this

What an incredible contrast when we think about the story of Judah in the last chapter.

Judah as a grown man was given over to his lusts, but Joseph here controls them.

Where Judah seems to have no care for what God thinks, Joseph has it on the forefront of his mind.

In fact, notice what he says committing such an act would be.

Not sinning against his master, which it certainly would be, but Joseph understands at such a young age that all sin, even that which we commit against other people, is primarily against God.

And not only did he resist her once, it tells us in v. 10 that this was a daily advance, but that he refused to listen to her.

But Joseph as wise as he was made a mistake that allowed a dishonest person to take advantage of their authority over him.

The Mistake

Gen 39:11-

I don’t want to spend too much time tonight on the fact that Joseph absolutely did the right thing in fleeing temptation here.

This account is an excellent example of the way in which we should desire to flee from sin, even if it costs us a coat.

But there’s something in the text here that is interesting to note, and that is that Potiphars wife attempted this terrible action when none of the men of the house where there with them.

Joseph in his youth made the mistake of entering into a house alone with a woman that he knew had sinful intentions toward him, and while he might have been secure enough in his own mind to know that nothing would happen, he likely never saw the lies coming.

How many times in recent history have we seen accusations of improper behavior be leveled at people with absolutely no evidence?

Now this is a tricky situation, because I know that there are certainly instances where misconduct has occurred, and it wasn’t properly handled, and they are absolutely telling the truth.

But how do we know that for certain?

Do I believe the accuser without proof?

Should I immediately reject their claims without proof?

I don’t claim to have a right answer, but here’s what I do know, we can inject much more wisdom into our interactions than we usually do.

For instance, just this last week a politician from Mississippi invoked what has come to be known as the “Billy Graham rule” after the famous evangelist Billy Graham who refused to go anywhere alone with another woman.

Let me tell you guys, the media slammed this guy just as hard as they slammed Mike Pence for it before.

They called it chauvinistic, they called it ridiculous, they called it sexist.

But let me tell you, don’t you think Joseph had wished he had taken someone with him into the house that day?

The truth is that people are people, and people can lie.

And even when there’s no proof, very often a false accusation can ruin a persons reputation, so it’s better to be wise.

Also, I don’t have a point to draw from this, only that it is interesting, Note that this is the second time that a garment has been employed to lie about the state of Joseph’s affairs.

In Prison with the Lord

Gen 39:19-

Put him in prison, but didn’t put him to death

Very likely he didn’t believe her, or knew the kind of woman she was.

And it’s at this point that we might well expect Joseph to give up with despair.

Favorite son of a wealthy family

sold into slavery

elevated to a great position

Thrown into prison.

We were told at the beginning of this chapter that the Lord was with Joseph, and again we are told that the LORD is with Joseph.