Last week we were in chapter 38. We did not really go through it all. I ran out of time. I took more than enough time. We looked at a lot of comparisons between Jesus and Joseph. Joseph is the greatest type of Jesus in the Bible, next to probably David. Today we are going to continue on with Joseph. We are going to actually skip over chapter 38. I do not know if you are familiar with Genesis all the way through. But, if you read the book of Genesis, I encourage you to do it as we're going through this especially. But, 38 is just talking about Judah and some things that go on in his life. So, we're just going to skip past that and go into 39. and continue on with Joseph and how he was sold into slavery and brought down to Egypt into Potiphar's house. Now, the thing about chapter 39 that was brought up to me, I didn't think of it, but it was a good thought. I'll just pass it on to you. As we've looked at it already, numerology in the Bible, numbers, and chapter 39 is, if you do the math, divided by three is three times thirteen. So you've got a lot of 13's, and we won't go back into that, but we've got a lot of 13's associated with Joseph's life. Even though that he's a type of Christ, the number 13 in the Bible is associated primarily with rebellion. And I think the reason why that that is shows up so often in his life is that the children of Israel, although Joseph was blessed, although he was a type of Christ, you know, Jesus became sin for us who knew no sin. And we'll get into that maybe a little bit this morning where he took his his soul was made an offering for sin and his soul went down to hell. And so that's one of the pictures between him and Joseph as well. But that number 13, you could apply that to Jesus Christ as well because he became sin. But Israel was a very rebellious people. Their whole history, and we've got a time coming up, maybe soon, maybe if this legislation passes and our country sells out their sovereignty and China comes in and becomes your master, who knows? You realize that's where we're at. We're very close to a big change in this country. I do value, I know I'm shifting gears real quick, but I do value the country. I didn't start it. I was born here. I'm not responsible for everything you see around you. I'm the beneficiary. Hundreds of years into our country, I come in and show up and get the benefits of what people died for. I do feel responsible to a degree for all of that. However, being a Christian, I know that the Lord is coming back. If the Lord comes back, you know what He'll be coming back to do? He'll be coming back to judge this rebellious people. it's going to be the time of at least what we can see from the Bible, seven years of tribulation. At least three and a half of those years will be great tribulation such as the world has never seen. We won't get into it today but maybe eventually we'll talk about a little bit what happened to the children of Israel in Egypt. Egypt is a type of the world. We'll look at that today too. And the plagues that were given there, if you read them and really consider what they were, they were terrible. But the Bible tells us that when the plagues come for the great tribulation, it will be such that the world has never seen before. And so I believe these numbers 13 show up for a reason in Joseph's life and show you that the people that he belongs to, the people that his father, you know, he's part of were rebellious and stiff-necked people. But anyway, chapter 13 brings out another false accusation against Joseph and he gets put into jail. So that is a negative thing as far as those thirteens go. In chapter 40, when we get to chapter 40, which will be next week, you are going to find him in the jail and the butler and the baker show up in the jail and one of those guys gets hanged on a tree. So that's a type of Christ being hanged on a tree. False accusation, then being hanged on a tree in the next chapter. And in the next chapter, 41, what you're going to find is that Joseph is exalted. And Joseph is sitting on the throne and he's running the country. He's running the world, basically. And so that's a picture right there, just chapter 39, 40, 41, as a picture of Christ and what's going on there. But in your notes, verses 1 through 6 of 39, we'll read it. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, brought 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, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and made him overseer over his house, and all that he had put into his hand. And it came to pass, from that time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he knew not, ought he had, save the bread which he did eat, and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored." So now if you take the numbers of chapter 39 and verse 1, and you add them together, three plus nine plus one, I have it on your sheet for you, you get another 13. And if you look at the 13th word of the first verse of verse one, you're gonna come up with the word Pharaoh. and Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Pharaoh is a type of the Antichrist, all through the Bible. Sometimes it's not always true. It's not always that way. One thing you might want to learn about a type, even a type of Joseph, being Christ, it's not always going to carry through all the way. We don't take things that far. but we just point them out because of, like I said, the spirit of prophecy to point to Christ. Egypt is a type of the world. Go back to Genesis 12 and look at something just real quick and it'll be the exact phrase as you see in Genesis 39. Genesis 12 and verse 10. It says, and there was a famine in the land, which is going to happen again, and it caused Abraham to go down to Egypt. And there was a famine in the land, and Abraham went down into Egypt. That's the wording, down into Egypt. If you go look here at our text here, it's right on your paper, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Now in Genesis 12, that's the first time the word Egypt ever shows up in the Bible. And the first time it ever shows up, it's in a negative context already because you have to go down to Egypt. And the leader of Egypt is a type of Satan. It's Pharaoh. His number, you'll look down later in the sheet, if you look down where it says verses 19 through 21, the official title of Pharaoh is Pharaoh King of Egypt. Pharaoh King of Egypt has 18 letters in it. 18 letters is 6 plus 6 plus 6. And so there's a type of the Antichrist, the theme of the idea of Egypt. Egypt is a type of the world. Egypt is what led the world all through that time. By the time Christ shows up, Rome was in charge of the world. And so it makes me wonder about America though. Because really, America's been in charge of the world for I don't know how many years I could look and maybe get a number, but America's been in charge. And every time you have a world power like that that's in charge, it's a bad thing. it always ends up being a bad thing, not a good thing. Now we enjoy the blessings of it, no doubt. Abraham, when he went down to Egypt, because there was a famine, he was able to get food. In Joseph's case, he got put into jail there, but it brought blessing. The children of Israel all were able to come in, people were able to get food, God used it, right? It doesn't mean God can't use a bad thing. This is an interesting thought that runs through my mind constantly. God will use things that are bad. He'll use people that are bad to accomplish His will. He'll use whatever He has to. He has to use me this morning. Now, I could step down. I could voluntarily step down, but if He's going to use me, He's going to have to use a piece of dirt that's sinful. that has issues, right? And so, he has to always use fallible men to get his will accomplished. That's why I say about types, don't get carried too far with them, God will use whatever he has to use. But in this place, again, we've got Joseph, and the wording is specific, he's going down to Egypt, just like the first mention in 1210. Joseph was sold by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, no doubt for a profit. So, it says that he was sold for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, And if you look at your paper from last week, you probably don't have it now, but if you remember, last week, Judas and Judah are the same name. And so Judah is the one who had the idea to sell his brother for the 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, just like Judah sold out Jesus for 30. And I just put a really silly note on your paper, look out for the 2030 agenda. 20 pieces of silver back here in Genesis 30 over there in the Gospels where Judas sold him out. That's 2030. In 2030 the Pope has decided that he was going to be a part of this because he's a world leader. I'll get to the Pope here in a minute. But they are setting an agenda and you're seeing it all the time. I'm seeing it in the company that I work for. They're starting to throw this word around and you're going to see it on your clothing, you're going to see it on your food, you're going to see it on whatever people are doing. It's going to be this word sustainability or sustainable. You know what that is a code word for? Communism. All right, so just be aware, I'm not gonna give you all that this morning, but when you see, oh, that's great, that's sustainable, oh, good green cars and green houses and solar panels and blah, blah, blah, that's sustainable, watch out. They are indoctrinating you to get ready for a one world order. But anyway. And I think all through history, I think Egypt wanted this at their time. They wanted to be the one world leader. You know, leaders are not content to just rule their own groups, right? They want to conquer, they want to take more, they want you. And they'll take you by the edge of the sword and they'll claim peace. They'll put up a place called the United Nations and they'll say, well, this is our peacekeeping troops. How do you have troops to keep the peace? Well, you just proved our point. He who has the biggest gun wins, right? And so if you want to have, you've got to have nuclear weapons, you've got to have a big army, you've got to have all these things to keep the peace. Why? To keep them away, right? The bad guys away. Because the world is always going to fight, the world is always going to war. But anyway, I'm getting way off track. So 2030 was the agenda that the Pope is into, that the United Nations is into, that our government is into, the sustainability idea, the green energy, the sharing, making everybody equal, celebrating LGBTQ, all that stuff is all to be done by 2030. And if I look at my calendar, that's just seven short years away. And if that's all I got left, I'll try my best to hold on. I want it to be sooner, but I hope it's then. I hope it's before then. But anyway, it'll come when it comes. But chances are the Ishmaelites sold Joseph for a profit, and that profit would have been at least 10 more silver pieces, so they got the 30 pieces. Can't prove that, but I just put that probably 30 pieces of silver, just like Jesus. This coffee is not helping me this morning. What kind of coffee is this? I always call it church coffee. Church coffee is the worst coffee you could ever drink. So the Lord ensured that Potiphar could witness the blessing on Joseph's life. So here's Joseph, he goes into slavery, he's getting sold to the captain of the guard, he goes to Potiphar's house, a good place to go. It's not so bad. He's not in jail yet, everything's going okay. But he gets sold and Potiphar is able to see his life. Potiphar sees his life and says, there's something different about this guy. And of course, that's a lesson for us. Wherever you go, people ought to see a difference in you. You know what? Even if they don't see Christ in you, they ought to see some character. They ought to see an honest person. They ought to see a caring person, a compassionate person, a hard worker. You know, they ought to see somebody like that, at least, at the very least. And I think that's what he saw here in Joseph. I think Joseph had some character. The Bible tells us what his age was. It tells us he was 17. But even at 17 with his dreams and his brothers hating him, he had some character. And so God allowed Potiphar to see that. and it brought blessings to his household. He recognized that when he showed up, all of a sudden, my life's getting better. My life's prospering. Having this guy around is a good thing. I'm in business. I'm an entrepreneur. I make money. I work from home and all that. So I pay attention to all these seminars and things that I go to a lot of meetings, Zoom meetings, and I'm hearing all kinds of people. Tried to let me have positive mental attitudes and all that kind of stuff. And I do. I think I do. I mean, most of the time I do. But at the same time, they have a lot of good sayings. And one of the sayings that I latched onto is they'll say, your income reflects the top five people you hang around the most. So if you hang around a bunch of losers, you're going to be a loser too. And if you want to have a negative attitude like they do, you'll hang around birds of a feather flock together, right? And if you want to make money and you want to have a positive impact on society, which I don't really, but if you want to have a positive impact on society and you want to have a big income and you want to be successful in life, then you're going to hang around those kind of people. Why? Because those kind of people rub off. And what they do, and their little tricks, and their little ideas, and how they spend their time, and that helps. It teaches you something. And you don't get that in school, by the way. They don't teach you these kind of things. School is such a waste. But I'll save that. There's no kids in here, so I hope I can say that. So he saw that having him around benefited him. And so it's good when we're even, and that's why we get together in church, right? We get together in church because we want to learn from one another. We want to know, well, what do you do when you get in this situation? You know, what are you praying for? How can I pray for you? And we and we share that burden. And, you know, right here, we have Teresa here this morning because we were able to pray for her and God let us see the blessing of that and be a part of that. And so and we can be all a benefit to one another the same way. But there are some practical lessons in this idea of him seeing Joseph's life. First, God can get glory through your work. You can serve God just by being an everyday Joe and just going to work and doing a good job. Go to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 15. I'm not sure if that's the verse I want. That isn't the verse I want, so I don't know why I have it there. Oh, it's verse 16 is what I want. It says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. It's a very simple verse, but the Bible tells you that it's our responsibility to let our light shine. You know, we talk about closet Christians. You know, there's going to be a, I think Pastor, he may get to it, he mentioned it to me, I don't know when, I think it's Saturday, there's going to be a queer fest up the road here this Saturday. And you know what they're going to do? They're going to let their light shine. They're not going to be, you know, when I was in high school, when I was a kid, they used to say, you put your skeletons in the closet, you know, and just if you are one, don't tell us about it because you'll get beat up. And not that I'm advocating getting beat up for being a queer or beating up people like that, I don't. But what I'm saying is that was the attitude of the day. But now they're coming out and they're marching. And they're not just marching, they're marching however they want. As lewd and as crude as they want to be, and as vicious as they want to be, they're vicious people. They're just like Muslims. They're just like the communists. They're just like anyone else who has to force their agenda. They're gonna force it on you. and they're going to push it hard, and they're going to hate you if you can't comply with them. And they would just soon have you dead. But they're going to let their light shine. And so we as Christians, what do we do? We say, well, you know, nobody really wants to hear how I am, and nobody really wants to know my convictions. I just don't want to offend people, and we back off. And so the Lord says, no. The practical lesson is, Joseph, he was in slavery, he was put into Potiphar's house, and he let his light shine to the point where God blessed his life and his whole house was blessed for it. Go to John 5.36. John 5.36 is just talking about Jesus, actually, and what He did when He was here. Jesus says, But I have a greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. So you know what Jesus said? And when Jesus stood before Pilate and I'm looking at the clock and looking at my sheet, I thought I'd be done with this in a half an hour. But anyway, you know what Jesus did when he stood before Pilate? He was silent. You know why he was silent because of what you just read there? Because he says the works should speak for me. And you know what? People should they should be able to look at you and your work should speak for themselves. They ought not to have to say, oh, you're a Christian. Oh, I didn't know that. OK, so moving on, secondly, the second thing is God can bless the world around you to sustain you. So that's what's happening. You've got Joseph being sold out from his family. He can't be around his father anymore. His mother is dead, and his brothers hate him, and he's put into slavery. But God blessed him and put him in a decent place in Potiphar's house. And so what does he do? He doesn't sit around and wish for more. He doesn't sit around and act like he's been a victim. He just starts to live for God. And I think he's had that attitude all the way through. And so, go to Proverbs 28, 2. And so, again, Potiphar is getting the blessing of his house, and Joseph is being taken care of quite well. So, Proverbs 28, 2. It says, for the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof. But by a man, a man, one man, but by a man of understanding and knowledge, the state thereof shall be prolonged. That going back to Susan's prayer request, that is what I pray for America. That is what I pray for my own house. That's what I pray for our church. That's what I pray for Port St. Lucie. You can get very specific in your prayers, by the way. You know, if you lived in California, it's not that way. It's a different world in California than it is here. And so you pray for where you live. I hope you do that. But God's saying there that the state of a place can be prolonged. There was a lady, when we lived in Michigan, there was a lady at the church that was an older lady and she needed extra money. She barely had any social security. So she worked at the grocery store that was across the way. The grocery store was in a bad neighborhood. It was failing. She would come and say, I don't even know how this place is even open, but thank God I have a job. Well, the time came when she no longer needed the job and she left that job. And you know what happened to the grocery store? She's a Christian woman. You know what happened to the grocery store? It went out of business just like that. Do you know that you might be working somewhere right now that's in business just because you're there? You ever think about that? That could be happening. God could be blessing just your situation. I remember I was a landscaper and I was working one day and I ran across a guy and he came up to me and he started sticking his finger in my face. And he was mad at me. He says, are you that guy? And he named my company. And I said, well, yeah. He goes, you're the owner. And I said, yeah, I'm the owner. And he says, well, I have a problem with you. And I says, well, what's your problem? And I saw his truck over there. He was a competitor. I thought, oh, no. Did I take one of his clients or something? And he goes, you don't charge enough money. And I says, I don't charge enough money? And he goes, no. He said, I charge about twice what you charge. And he says, and you're undercutting my business. He goes, you know, I can't afford to be out here, even with what I'm charging. And I looked at him, I said, you're telling me you don't make any money? He goes, I can barely squeak by. And meanwhile, and I'm not boasting or anything, meanwhile, I've got money in the bank. And God is blessing me. And I'm turning down more work than I can handle. I'm having to hire people just to do it. And so I'm thinking, am I thinking, well, there again, is God blessing me, but he's not blessing him? We're in the same town, we're in the same place, we do the same work. But God can do that for you, he can bless. And so God can, that's one of the lessons here, God can bless in your situation, even though it looks bad. And I believe he wants to. The third thing is, do what's right and God can advance you. That's verse 6, right? Joseph was advanced. Everything about what he did prospered. I left Genesis here and I'm in the wrong book. But verse 6, And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not all that he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. So Joseph could come and go as he pleased. Even when we get to the fact that he gets thrown into prison, he's going to be able to come and go as he pleases. He was put in charge of the prison. And so thirdly, well that was thirdly. Fourth and last, the devil is sure to attack when this happens. Now we'll get into what's going on with Joseph in the next couple verses. Look at verse 7 through 10. And 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 wadeth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to peace here on this earth. Well, there is no peace here on this earth. And even if you achieve peace on earth, so what? So you'll live that quiet and peaceable life that we covet and pray for, but when you die, you go burn in hell because you had the false god? So he was putting, you know, Korans and Bibles in every pew. And guys, the Stanleys were involved in helping him out. Other guys, I won't start naming names, but Billy Graham was part of this. And Billy Graham, at the end of his life, started talking about how that we're going to have, you know, if they worship the same, if they worship God, all roads, it's like, it's like who's that woman on, black woman on TV? Oprah. It's like, you know, all roads lead to the same God anyway. And so don't get mad at me for saying Allah and you say God, or you say Jesus and I say whatever. And so they had this idea of Chrism. Well, now they have this thing called Abrahamic House. And it's a movement that's going on. And this is just a statement from their website. It says, we believe that it is possible to change an individual's harmful prejudices. So if you have a Bible understanding of who Jesus Christ is, you have a harmful prejudice. All right, which leads to a restorative and empowering shift in their community. So if you can get rid of those prejudices, we can have a better community. We can have a better life on earth. We can get along here as neighbors on earth. Well, I'd love that. I'd like that to be possible. Well, it will be possible. You'll see it for a thousand years solid. And you know how you'll see it? The guy who has a big stick. It says he rules with a rod of iron. And as soon as you get out of line, throw that guy into the lake of fire. We don't need him around here. And that's how it's going to go. But this is their philosophy. It says, by crafting new intentional spiritual communities, Abrahamic House will lead to transformative relationships from ignorance and stereotypes to solidarity and service. And you know why they can use Abraham? Because Abraham was the father of Ishmael. and the father of Isaac. And so they've been fighting over who's daddy all along. Who's our daddy? Our daddy is Abraham, and he's the God that we serve, and they've been fighting over that for years. So anyway, that's what the peace-loving people will do. And if you don't want to be a part of the Abrahamic house, if you don't agree with that philosophy, then what's wrong with you? You're a Bible-thumping Christian. You need to be eliminated, right? And all through the years, people have been eliminating Christians that way. So another thing, furthermore, they will do so relentlessly as Potiphar's wife did. It was day by day in verse 10 it tells you. Day by day, day by day, day by day, wearing her out. Some of you go to work every day and you face the same people every day. You face the same jokes every day, you face the same criticism every day. you face the same, a lot of times you might even get the worst jobs, because they want to stick it to you. I remember going, I used to work, I don't work for anybody, I haven't worked for anybody forever, but I couldn't take it, so I started my own businesses, but when I worked for people, they found out right away that I'm a Christian. And the jokes just are coming and coming and coming, and they call them jokes, and a lot of times they really push you aside. And all I'm telling you is you might want to be willing to, and it was part of the lesson here, I don't know if we're coming up to it soon, but I'll say it now. You might want to be willing to be having a plan B. Because there's going to come a time where you're going to get to a point, like the two young boys that I mentioned a couple weeks back, where they worked for Kroger. I think it was two young boys, they worked for Kroger. And Kroger said, you're going to wear this apron, and this apron has a gay symbol on it. instead of the Kroger symbol. They said, well, if you don't mind, we'd rather just wear the Kroger symbol apron, and we don't want to wear the gay day, whatever gay day it was, symbol. And they got fired for it. Do you remember me telling you about that? You might just want to get to it. Now, that's a low-paying job, something you could always find somewhere else. But you might want to get to the point where you're making a plan B. If you're facing that where you are, you know what? It's OK to shift careers. You know less than 40% of the people who went to college and have a college degree work in the field they went to college for? Less than 40%. Most people go to college because they think that's the thing to do. And that's what everybody, pressure of society to go do. And what's wrong with you if you don't? Right? And so if you don't, you're probably, I know you are way better off than if you do. Unless you're going to be something very specific that we need you for, like an engineer, or a pilot or a doctor or something that it's required. And then you might just want to get focused on that. But be prepared is what I'm saying. In this day and age, you never know what's going to come the next law that's going to come down the pipe. And the next thing you know, you have a decision to make. Am I going to comply to keep my job or am I going to I'm going to leave and do? Joseph got sold out into slavery. He had no choice, but God prospered him anyway. So and I'm preaching to me, too, because I'm waiting for the day that happens to me. and I'm trying to make provision for it, but it's up to God. But Joseph set a good example by continuing to do as he did a four time, just as Daniel did. When they made the law that you can't pray to God, you can't seek counsel from anybody else except the King. Daniel says, well, okay, thanks. He went back to his house and he prayed like he did a four time, the Bible says. So not only that, but he declared his biblical conviction in verse 9. He said this, How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? You know when we choose to do sin, sometimes we can sin on our own and it's just us doing a sin. Sometimes we're sinning against other people. But you know, it doesn't matter if you're sinning against a person or if you're sinning alone. You're sinning against God. That's the definition of sin. Sin is something that God doesn't approve of. That's all it is. It's not holy. It's not the way God is. And so that's not the way I am, then that's sin. And so when we sin, we're sinning against God. And he realized that and he told her that. And so it might help us in resisting temptation to realize that we're sinning against God, not just man. You know, sometimes we don't think about that. We say, well, who am I hurting? It's just hurting me, you know, and I'm seem to be doing okay. Well, yeah, but what about God? So the true repentance, by the way, is not sorrow for being caught, but sorrow for sinning against God. And I believe that's a difference. I believe people know the difference. We see that difference in Esau. When Esau got caught, he was upset that he sold his birthright and he wanted his birthright back. Well, you can't have it back. You sold it off. You gave it. It's too late. The devils, who knows what kind of things the devils are thinking right now. They're thinking, well, I wish I'd have never sold out. I wish I would have never served you. You're an idiot, Satan. I don't want to be around you. I don't want to even serve you. I wish I could go back. Well, it's too late. You can't go back. You've already made your choice. But we can be sorry for what we've done. But there's a difference between that and going to God and saying, God, I'm sorry for what I've done to you. Now look at Luke chapter 15 real quick. And look at what the prodigal son had to say about his sin. He left his father's home and he was distraught about it. And no doubt he had regrets all through the time that he was out there in the world. But when he finally came to himself, and I like how the Bible talks like that, You know, there's a point where we come to ourselves, we come to our senses, we call that. When you come to your senses and then you realize what you've been doing and then and now what? Well, that's what I prayed earlier. I thank God that he's a merciful, long suffering, kind, gracious God. And he allows us for the most part, I believe, for as long as there's life in our breath and our bodies, breath in our bodies. He allows us to come and get forgiveness. And so in Luke, chapter 15, verse 17, It says, and when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's, here's his remorse for what he lost. But then he goes further. How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. So he confessed both. He didn't just sin against his father and his brother and the household. He said, I've sinned against heaven. So he made that distinction. Go over to Psalm 51. And this is David. praying before God. This is actually the place where he asks the Lord not to take the Holy Spirit from him. He says, Psalm 51 verse 1, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. He is pleading to God's tenderness and His mercies and His forgiveness. Blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. He wants it removed. For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, the only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and sinned, and my mother conceived me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. And the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. So the difference is, please Lord, I'm sorry for what I just did, but I'm planning on doing it again, so it's not being thoroughly cleansed, right? It's the idea of knowing that I've sinned before God, and I'm guilty before God, and I have to clear this up with God. And so he realized that and he declared that to her. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So Joseph was faithful in all the house of Potiphar, just like Jesus was faithful in all his house. And because Joseph was faithful in the house of Potiphar, he reaped the benefits of being able to be advanced. And being able to be advanced, he found himself second in command in the land of Egypt. and he was able to rescue his whole family and the world by putting away seven years of goods for the world to get a hold of and for his family to come and live in that land of Goshen where they came into and then become a great nation that God would use. Right. And so because of what Jesus did, Jesus came down here and because he was faithful in all his house, the Hebrews three, three, one through six will tell you that he was faithful in his house, meaning the house, meaning the body. and that he was faithful in that way and he did no sin he was able to get on the cross and bear our sins and so now we get to go into his body his faithful body even though we're not faithful we get his faithfulness so verses 11 through 18 back in Genesis 39 And it came to pass, verse 11, 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 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 had left his garment in her hand, he 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. 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. 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 which thou brought unto us came in to me to mock me. And it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled out. So verse 11, by the way, of that chapter here is another coincidence about Joseph and Jesus. It says that the first time the word business ever shows up in the Bible. in verse 11 it says, "...and it came to pass about this time that Joseph went in the house to do his business." The first time that same word is used in the New Testament is Jesus when he's a young boy and he's lost by his mother and father and he says this, "...wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?" So you see the similarity. Joseph was going about his business. He was faithful in his house. Jesus went about his business. He was faithful in his house. And so and again, we reap the benefits of that. But notice another thing that he said. Jesus said, I have it on your paper, what Jesus quote was in Luke two forty nine. But he said, wish you not. And back there, I forget which verse it's in. Joseph said that he wadeth not what is in all my hand. You see that word wadeth and your word wist over here when Jesus said it and speaking of the business they were about. You know a lot of people get hung up on words like that. When you read that did you get confused what that meant? Did you understand that don't you know is what that word means? I was listening to the radio the other day and I was listening to a lawyer read some stuff on the radio and as they were reading the verbiage it said to wit. right in the wording, to wit, meaning to know and to continue on. And most of the world, your legal jargon in your contracts and your car leases and your home mortgages and all things that you have, you have all Bible language in there. And you don't get upset about that because you want it to be very specific. You don't want any loopholes, you don't want anything coming back on you, right? But you want your Bible to be loose. You want your Bible to be in easy to understand terms, right? And you don't want it to be very specific. I'd rather have it be very specific and use even what we would call archaic words at this point, but that's just another side point. So Jesus' business was completed on the cross when He said, it is finished. That should be a great blessing to all of us. Thank God He was willing to do what He was sent for. Now we've been left here on this earth for a reason. You got saved, and I would just assume, Lord, if I'm saved, take me home. Get me out of here, because the reason I got saved was I don't like this place, and I don't like the way I am, and I'd just soon be rescued from my own self, right? But he doesn't do that. He leaves us here, and then he gives us this term called ambassador. And I'm supposed to be an ambassador for him? I'm supposed to tell other people about him? Well, I'm not qualified for that, and neither are you, by the way. But you know what? That's what we're here to do. And so, as long as we're here to do, then I guess we got some business to do. And if Jesus was willing to do it, and I reap the benefits of that, then I ought to at least oblige and do what He asked me to do, right? So, there's an old saying, getting back to now the text of what the woman, what she was doing, accusing Him. There is an old saying, Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned. You want to get in trouble, get in trouble with a woman. She will not let you go. right? And she will make sure that your life is a living hell and pardon the expression. But that saying comes from somewhere, right? And I don't know, women, if you take it for what it's worth. But anyways, Mrs. Potiphar, if you want to call her, set a trap for Joseph. Don't be that way, by the way. Don't be vindictive. Why would you want to be that way? I'm not talking to the ladies anymore, I'm talking to everybody. Why would you want to be vindictive? Why do you want to pay people back? It doesn't help. It doesn't help. You know what helps is what the Bible calls, and this is to the women, but it's for all of us, a meek and quiet spirit. You know what the Lord tells you the good advice to do is a soft answer turneth away wrath. You know when the guys at work are giving you that hard time, you know what you do? I'm glad you're having a good time," or whatever you say to them. Okay, just take it. Just take it. Jesus took it. Pilate stood before him and told him, aren't you going to answer me? And Jesus said, Why should I? You know what you're advised, by the way, in the world when the police come around? This is honest. Now this is not just because police are trying to entrap you, but if you were in an accident and you're frazzled, right? Or if you're in a situation, there's a crime takes place and you're frazzled. You know what your best thing to do is just, no matter if you're frazzled or not, shut your mouth. Don't say anything. If you're in an argument with somebody, if you're arguing with your child, if you're arguing with your spouse, if you're arguing with a co-worker, just shut your mouth. You know what else to do? Turn around and walk another direction. You do not have to stand there and listen to it any longer. Because you are going to say something and the police will hear what you have to say, getting back to that, they will hear what you have to say and they will write it down. And you will go to court and you will live for what you said for the rest of, you know, whatever it's going through. Your best advice is just shut your mouth. And if you have to answer, give a soft answer. It'll turn away wrath. And let the Lord deal with it. But anyway, she set a trap for him. And even though Joseph was a servant, he fled him, and the Bible says, and got out. So he knew, look, there's going to be a consequence for me getting out of this situation. But he took the only possible escape. And the Bible says that with every temptation there is a way to escape. And one of the ways to escape is to get out. One of the ways to escape is shut your mouth. One of the ways to escape is turn around and get out of there. You don't have to necessarily run out of there, but you've got to get out of there. You've got to get out of Dodge, as they say. Get away from the problem. And so that's what he decided to do. And there was a consequence. He got thrown in jail for it. But you know what? Look at Proverbs chapter 4. I'm running out of my time again, but we'll wrap it up real quick here. He decided, and I put it on your sheet there, it's Proverbs 16, but I want you to go to Proverbs 4. He decided that as better as a little with righteousness. And that's what Joseph had to make that decision. I'm sure right at that time, what am I going to do? I can stay here and I can continue to have this easy life in Potiphar's house, or I could run out of here and it's probably going to do, I don't know what it's going to do to me. They may kill me for it. But he decided, I'm going to run out of here. And I'm going to keep my character. I'm going to keep my integrity. I'm not going to let this woman manipulate me. But Proverbs chapter 4 is another way to look at it. Or just advice on what to do. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it. pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Now this is Mrs. Potiphar in the next verse. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. There are some people in this world that all they want to do is mischief. I had relatives like that when I was a kid. And every time I got around them, it was like they always wanted to get in trouble. They always wanted to do something wrong. And I'm like, yeah, but my parents, who are sitting right back there, won't like it. And if they catch me doing that, and if I'm with you, it's just bad association. I'm guilty by association. But that's how it is. Some people in this world, they never grow up. And all they want to do is cause mischief and trouble, and they want to cause you to fall. And they want to cause you to have a bad life. And you know, misery loves company, and your income reflects the top five people you hang around the most, because birds of a feather flock together. So you might want to get some new friends. You might want to get some new influences and realize, you know, you don't have to hang around people that are always looking for trouble. That's why Pastor says don't stay out late at night. What good is going on at 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning? What are you doing at that time of day that you can't do at 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the day? Well, there's a reason. There's a reason why bars are dimly lit. I don't like going into restaurants where everything is dimly lit. Why don't you turn the lights up, please? Why do you have the music on so loud that I can't even talk to the waitress? There's a reason. And that's just what we're talking about here. There was a guy that, he is a preacher, he is a missionary eventually, but he got saved and his job was to fill cigarette vending machines. Anybody remember cigarette vending machines? Of course they don't have those anymore, but he would fill those, that was his job. And so he got saved and he was also a drummer in a band. And so he would go at night, and he would play in his band at night in the dark bar. And then he would go out in the daytime and fill cigarette machines with cigarettes. And one day, and he told this illustration just like I'm showing it to you right now. One day, he's grabbing the cigarettes like this, and he's doing this, and he's putting them in the machine, and he goes like this. And he said, what am I doing? What am I doing? I'm promoting an industry that I should not be a part of. I'm promoting something that I should not be part of. And you know, I know people who actually drove beer trucks saying, well, it's okay. You know, Jesus said, be all things to all men. They actually said that to me. That's justification, right? And so he looked at that and he says, what am I doing? And you know what he did? He dropped it and he went back to his job and he says, I quit. Well, what is he going to do for money? That was not his concern. What his concern was, I am no longer going to be doing this anymore. And so that's just an illustration of the idea of what Joseph was up against. You know, Mrs. Potiphar, she, you can see her, she claimed to desire him. She was after him day after day after day after day. Hey, lay with me, lie with me, be with me, hey, just come close to me, sit with me, let's just talk, you know, and she was doing that every day. But as soon as he made a scene, as soon as he said, I'm not going to do this against God, as soon as he said, and she grabbed his coat and he fled and now she's stuck with the evidence, you know what she did? She did like what most of the world will do. It was just as easy for her to betray him. As much as she loved him one minute, as much as she desired him one minute and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life one minute, the next minute she says, I don't want to be around him. No, no, he's guilty. Look what he did. He came in to mock me. And she started calling him names. Look at this Hebrew that you brought in here. And those Hebrews are all the same. Well, I don't know, I think you're the same. I think you're the one who created the situation. So she used that against him. And the Bible tells you in Matthew 7, 6, and we'll wrap it up here, but it tells you, just have it on your sheet, you don't cast your pearls before swine. Why? Because they will turn again and rend you. Oh yeah, get close to this person. Be careful who you're getting close to. You are wise enough to realize if they're receiving it or not. You're wise enough to know if this person is going to be trouble or not. You should be. Because one of these days it's going to turn around and it's going to bite you. And it's going to rend you and you're going to wish you never did. Go over to Proverbs chapter 5 and we'll be done here. I'm in Proverbs 5, are you? I'm still there. We're in 4, so Proverbs 5 and verse 6. Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, it says, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. Do you ever know a person who's this way one day and this way the next? And every day it's a different person? Every day it's a different mood? Every day it's a different response? Every day it's, well, one day they like this, and the next day they're against that, and the next day they're for it. That's a person that's movable. That's a person who hasn't figured some things out in life. That's a person who's a manipulator. That's a person who just wants to get what they want, and they will turn again and rend you. at the opportune time. Then close it up with chapter 23 in verse 7. Talking about business deal here, a business deal. Just look at verse 1, we'll read all the way through 7. When thou saidst to eat with a ruler, you're going to make a deal with somebody, consider diligently what is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite." Don't be looking at what he's got to offer yet. Hey, I'll put a knife to my throat sooner than I eat what you have to show me or try to woo me with your dinners and your times out and the entertainment that people go through in the business world. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Labor not to be rich. See, that's our problem. We always want to get more. So we're sitting down at the table with the wrong people. Cease from thine own wisdom. Our own wisdom says get rich. Your wisdom, Joseph's wisdom should have been, no, I'm going to stay here and I'm going to keep my cushy job. But he didn't, he followed the Lord. Verse five, wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, we all know that. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. And this is the verse I wanted. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink saith he to thee, but what? His heart is not with thee. His heart is not with you. Just be careful the company you keep. Now Joseph, I don't know what he could do. He was in the same situation as many of us. We go to work every day and that's our job and next thing you know they hire this guy or this lady and next thing you know our life is changing. This person is grief to me. But we have to get to a point where we're going to have to make a choice, many of us. But it's always right to choose the ways of the Lord. Right? And I'm not telling anybody to quit their jobs tomorrow. I'm just telling you, be prepared that these things can happen and will happen because when the devil, or when things start to go well for you, the devil, that's one of the things we first talked about, will show up. And when he shows