Please take your copy of God's word once again and turn to Genesis chapter 39. We are in generation four, now the Abraham family. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph. And you'll remember that Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, has been cruelly sold by his own brothers into slavery down in Egypt. No one up in Canaan knows if he's alive or dead. It seems as though Joseph is on his own. That no one knows if he is even alive. He must make his own way in the world and everything, everything seems to be against him. Tonight, we're going to look at the pivotal event of his life. And that's certainly not hyperbole to say that. Genesis 39 is the defining moment of Joseph's life. And I say that because I've done quite a bit of meditation thinking about those forks in the road that we come to that really define who we are. Those things that, those trials, those tests that come before us where they define what we're going to be, the course we're going to take in life, what our reputation, our witness, our effectiveness is going to be. And what we see in Genesis chapter 39 is nothing less than that. It is the defining moment for Joseph. This sets the course of his life for the next 50 years. And I say this knowing that perhaps with some of you, perhaps even young men who are about like Joseph, Joseph is either 17 or 18 in this narrative, probably 18. Some of you will perhaps face this exact same defining moment even this week. And so I speak with a great deal of urgency as we come to this text tonight. Let me ask you to listen carefully to God's word with your copy of God's word open and at the ready for we're going to be examining it under the microscope. Let's seek the Lord's help now as we prepare to open his word. The sovereign and living God. We ask that you would help us tonight by your Holy Spirit, for we will not understand this word or write or apply it correctly without the aid of your Spirit. Help us to so hear your Holy Word that we may truly understand, and then understanding that we may believe, and believing that we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor in all that we do. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. So the chapter opens in chapter 39. It picks up where Genesis 37 left off. You'll remember that last week we had sort of an interlude in Genesis 38. While Joseph was being taken down into Egypt, we sort of got a glimpse of what was going on back home with brother Judah. And it's interesting, it's no mistake, it's no coincidence that Genesis 38 and Genesis 39 are juxtaposed right next to one another. For in Genesis 38, you have one of Jacob's sons, Judah, who falls and falls hard. And the core of his problem is sexual sin. And in Genesis 39, just right bumped up against that, you have Joseph, who ought not to be nearly as spiritually strong as Judah. He's much younger, he's had less instruction. But what we see here is the contrast being painted for us. So verse one picks up where Genesis 37 left off. Joseph is now, as we open Genesis 39, in the Valley of the Nile. He wakes up each day and walks outside of his home and looks at the pyramids. He is now the possession of another man. And that man specifically is an idolater, a pagan. an unbeliever. In fact, his owner's name, Potiphar, his very name means he whom Ra has blessed. If you don't know who Ra is, Ra was the sun god of Egypt. He was the principal deity in the pantheon of idolatrous gods in Egypt. Every morning, all across Egypt, The rising sun was greeted with the chanting of cultic hymns to Ra. And in every home in Egypt, the idols were taken down from their shelves. They were bathed and dressed and given offerings. Egypt's gods were everywhere. Not just Ra, the sun god, but Osiris, Amon, and dozens of others. And the Pharaoh himself was considered the embodiment of a god. This is the world Joseph was dragged into as a teenager. Now, let me say very quickly, Joseph, now that he's in Egypt, he doesn't have the written word of God. He doesn't have the fellowship of any of God's people. He doesn't have Sabbaths. He has nothing. He has the indwelling Holy Spirit and he has the remembrance of his father's teaching. That's it. He's alone. No word, no fellowship, no church, no fellow believers. And Joseph isn't on the periphery of this society. He's in the very epicenter of it all since his owner Potiphar was an aristocrat, part of the inner circle of Pharaoh. And so Joseph is neck deep in paganism and idolatry. He's seeing it at its worst. I want you to think carefully of all of Joseph's troubles that he has as we begin. We need to get a fair picture of Joseph. First of all, Joseph has been separated from his family because of the bitter hatred of his siblings, of their jealousy. He's also lost the joy of basking in his father's love and favor. He cannot pursue a normal family life, that of getting married and having children in hope that the promised seed of Abraham will be born. He's forced to dwell outside the promised land in the place of blessing. And most importantly, he is now in servitude. Look at those words in verse one. He is a slave. He's a bought man. Potiphar paid for him. This means that he's owned by another. He has no freedom of movement. He can't make choices. He has to get every one of his marching orders from his owner. And something else that we often don't think about, he doesn't know the language of the land. He's been reared in Canaan and he goes to a place where they speak a different language. Not just the culture is different, but the language is different. And there's no Rosetta Stone or language school for him. He just has to pick it up on the fly and learn as he can. And what's typical when you read the text of the day, when slaves were brought into Egypt from other countries, typically their owners would buy them. And if they weren't quick enough to pick up on the language and obey their orders, they would be beaten severely. No doubt Joseph was perhaps beaten harshly in his early days as a slave because he just didn't understand his master's command. That's Joseph's life. You see it encapsulated there in verse 1. He's a slave. But very quickly we are told in verses 2 through 6 of Joseph's success. Joseph determines if he must be a slave, then he will be an excellent slave. He will be a slave to the glory of God. And so he throws himself into his tasks with zeal and with joy. He recognizes God's sovereign hand in his affliction. And he does believe that this is all for a purpose. So he acts in faith, trusting God to work in the situation and bring good from it. You remember that God had revealed prophetically the future to Joseph and had shown him a picture of his brothers and his parents bowing down to him, of the Lord exalting him. And so Joseph believes the word he's heard, even though it's a bare, small word. It's not in writing. He doesn't have it that he can turn to every day, have his devotions in the written word. He remembers specifically that the word of the Lord came to him as a prophet. And so he believes that word, that God's going to exalt him. So he doesn't sit and wait for God to exalt him, he gets busy using the means. He learns the language, he works hard, he's diligent. He believes that God is at work in this situation. The apostle Paul must have had Joseph in the back of his mind when he penned these words in Ephesians 6. Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, knowing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he'll receive the same from the Lord, whether he's a slave or free. Don't you know this, Paul's writing those words, penning those words, the image in his mind of the model slave is Joseph. That's the picture in his mind. Well, look very carefully at verses two through six. And let me just point out a few things that speak of Joseph's success. Joseph, first of all, was worthy of notice. He wasn't just a run-of-the-mill house servant. In verse three, we are told that his master saw, he recognized that the Lord was with him and the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. And so he's noteworthy. In those days, slaves, of course, were like furniture or like a toaster. They were just an instrument that you used. Nobody noticed a slave, but Joseph was so diligent, so honest, so prompt, so cheerful that his master took great notice of him. In fact, we see in verse five that his master decides that he's worthy of promotion and Joseph keeps rising in the echelon up until he is then the leader, the steward, the master of the home. And notice in that, he's not just a shrewd conniver who's stepping over people. Look at verse four. We read there that Joseph is willing to serve. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. That's the secret, by the way, one of the secrets of Joseph's success is he threw himself wholeheartedly into laying down his life for another, even an unbeliever. Now the reason for God's blessing Potiphar's whole house is we see the covenantal principle at work. Look at it very carefully in verse five. Notice the covenantal principle at work here. God blesses a whole house because of the faithfulness and righteousness of one man. Does that sound familiar? For we see the representative principle all through scripture. Tonight, we just saw it in baptism. We saw Derek and Tonya representing their household, making choices for them and God blessing their whole house, their children because of their faith. We see that all through scripture and we see it in verse five. We read these words. So it was from the time that he'd made him overseer of his house and all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. That's the covenantal principle being stated. Think of all through scripture we see this, just as God would have spared Sodom for the presence of a handful of righteous men, he blesses Potiphar for the presence of one righteous man. So Joseph, not only is diligent and zealous, he becomes adept at managing the whole estate of Potiphar. We see a hint of what all that that would take in. in verse five and verse six, that Potiphar has a house, a field, he's a man of means. So he not only has a home that Joseph oversees, but agricultural interests, which also would involve bookkeeping, accounting, management, land management, accounting, finance, oversight of others. And so Joseph becomes so adept at management that pretty soon the only thing that Potiphar had to worry about was, hey, Joseph, what's for dinner, we're told in verse six. That's all he thought about because everything else ran like a clock in his house because of Joseph's zeal. Now the picture you're to get is Joseph isn't trudging around Potiphar's house saying, I wish God would hurry up and exalt me. He promised to raise me up. And I know he's late and I'm getting grumpier by the day. No, that's not what we see at all. We see here that Joseph throws himself into his work and he does it as under the Lord. He does it with excellence, glorifying God, and God is with him so much so that everyone sees it. What a challenge to us tonight. Are you the most trustworthy employee in your workplace? The happiest, the earliest, who stays the latest, the most diligent and zealous? Would your boss entrust you with the checkbook? Could you be trusted to be on time, obey orders, do it well? This is the kind of believer, the Joseph's of the world, that God uses to make the gospel attractive. We are to learn just from these first few verses, several truths. First of all, that a godly man can be happy even if he is not free. See, sometimes people will make an idol of freedom. And Joseph will tell you there's something better even than freedom, and that is godliness. Some people make an idol of happiness, other of freedom. Joseph says, no, neither one of them are a worthy object for adoration. So Joseph doesn't make an idol of freedom. He says, I can be happy whether a slave or free. He can say 1,700 years before Paul, I've learned in whatever situation to be content. If I have shackles on my ankle, If I have Christ, I can be content. We see as well from this, even the first few verses that a man in bondage can bring glory to God. A man who's subservient can bring glory to God. We see here that a man in bondage can even be a blessing to his master. And we see that a godly man can be happy and youthful even in the most pagan of environments. What a contrast Joseph is to his older brothers, Reuben and Judah. You remember Reuben and Judah? Reuben sins in the most wicked fashion in incest, Judah as well. And they do so, they fall into sin right at home under the favorable influence of their father. Here's Joseph who maintains his moral uprightness far away from home, even when unjustly treated and even in the ultimate worldly setting with no other believer for at least 300 miles around. All that Joseph knew of the true God and his way of salvation and ethics, he learned by the age of 17 and then was taken out of that culture. But the great principle we are to take away from this first section of the narrative, verses two through six, is that amazing phrase in verse two, the Lord was with him. This is something according to verse three that can be seen even by unbelievers. We've already seen this in the life of Joseph's family. You remember his great grandfather, Abraham, that Abimelech, another pagan in Genesis 21, verse 22, sees that the Lord is with Abraham. He sees the blessing of God on this man's life. Some professing believers produce the opposite effect. Paul writes in Romans 2.24 that there are certain believers that because of them, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles. Not so with Joseph. Everyone can see that the Lord is with him and the hand of blessing is upon him. 1700 years before the Lord Jesus commands his followers to let their light so shine that men might see their good works and glorify their fathers in heaven, Joseph was already doing just that. Joseph is like the godly man spoken of in Psalm 1 3. Whatever he does shall prosper. Joseph is living out the covenantal mandate given to his great grandfather in Genesis 12 to be a blessing to the nations. But don't think that Joseph is a self-made man. You've got to keep this in the forefront of your mind. Don't think he's a Horatio Alger who pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He's not a self-made man. He's a God-made man. Look at what we are told in verse two. This is the key to Joseph. God is with him. This means the special personal covenantal presence of Jehovah is around him. So then comes the temptation. Look at it very carefully in verses seven through 12. Joseph has caught more than the eye of Potiphar. He has drawn the notice of, we'll call her Mrs. Potiphar. You see, Joseph, we are told in the text is in verse six, attractive in form and appearance. He was, I started to say the Brad Pitt of his day, but that dates me. I don't know the Justin Bieber of his day or whatever he is. That's probably a little sad for an example. But you know, it's interesting that Joseph, the same exact phrase that he was at the close of verse six, that he was handsome in form and appearance, the exact same words are used of his mother, Rachel in Genesis 29, 17. Do you get it? He looks like mom. You remember that his father, Jacob, when he first saw Rachel, he was stunned. And he said, she's lovely in form and appearance. Well, we're the exact same descriptive phrase is used of Joseph. So in other words, he looks like mom, he's a knockout. To use the 70s phrase, he's a hunk. That probably means nothing to those of you under 30. So Mrs. Potiphar sees Joseph and decides that he should be her next conquest. And so she determines to lay temptation in his path. Now let's analyze this temptation. You see, especially with men, we don't wanna think about temptation too hard, but we need to, we must. We should not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. Let's analyze this temptation, put it under the microscope. First of all, what has to be said about this temptation is it came in Joseph's youth. In other words, it came when his hormones are raging. This is the season of life when men are most liable to be overcome by sexual temptation. And so this temptation comes when his flesh is saying, yes, give in. Second thing we should note about this temptation, according to verse 10, it was repeated and frequent. Do you see the statement made in verse 10? So it was as she spoke to Joseph day by day. Every day, Mrs. Potiphar would put on perfume. Her eyelashes, she would bat them at Joseph. And she would urge Joseph again, again, to give ender seduction. She was the original desperate housewife. And Joseph keeps saying no, over and over again. And another analysis of this temptation. It came to him when he was away from home and the restraining influences of his parents. Did you hear that? It came to him from when he was hundreds of miles away from home and the restraining influences of godly parents. He was like the college student who's in the dorm for the first time with nobody to tell him what time he has to come home. Or the businessman who's a thousand miles away in a town where nobody knows him. By the way, those are the times. That's when you find out what a person's view of God is. Do they believe God is omnipresent in every place, that he's on the Clemson campus as well as at home? Do they believe that he's in the hotel in Milwaukee as well as back home in your little suburban neighborhood in Greenville? Do you believe that he's in every place watching or do you view God as the tribal God, the regional God, the God who's only at my parents' house? Joseph had a big God. Joseph didn't think that God was only back home with mom and dad. He had a big God, an omnipresent God, and he realized the eyes of the Lord are in every place, and that is what strengthened him. And Joseph as well, when we look at this temptation, he had ground for at least half a dozen rationalizations that he could have talked himself into sinning. Think of some of the better rationalizations. You've heard them, you probably used them. Number one, well, I'm a man, I have needs. He could have said that. Or second rationalization, he could have said, you know, I'm a victim. I've been abused here. It's about time I have some fun and some me time. I deserve it. Victims ought to have some fun every now and then. Or he could have used the third rationalization. A favorite, by the way, today. I'm genetically predisposed to sexual immorality. It's in my blood. After all, look at my brother Reuben in Genesis 35, and look at my brother Judah in Genesis 38. I can't help it. I was born this way. It's in my genes. Or a fourth rationalization. He could have said, God's abandoned me. Why should I care about him and his tired morality? Or a fifth rationalization. Potiphar will never know. It's okay because I can get away with it. It's the ultimate victimless crime. Or sixth, you have the conniving, strategizing rationalization. Well, I'll just do this because it will enhance my career. What's wrong with a little strategic adultery and fornication if it propels me to the top? Such powerful, reasonable sounding rationalizations, aren't they? But in the face of all of these, difficulties and all these potential rationalizations, we see Joseph doing something astounding. He resists temptation. Now here's where we need to do our most careful analysis. What was his resistance strategy? I wanna speak very directly to men. Men, you need to know these words. In fact, I would encourage you to memorize this section. Verses 7 through 12, because this is resistance strategy. You'll be tempted tomorrow and the next day and the next. And Joseph here presents several clear and forceful arguments and reasons not to fall. He uses arguments here, by the way, that other people would probably use for an excuse to go ahead and engage in the affair. Look at his arguments that he marshals. Men take note of these because these work just as well today as they did 3,700 years ago. These are timeless arguments. First of all, in verse 8, he argues this way. My master trusts me so much that he doesn't supervise me. And in fact, he's promoted me over the whole household. He's given me rapid promotion. He doesn't watch after me. There have been a lot of people saying, well, nobody's looking. The master's not here. He trusts me so much he's not in the house. That gives me the perfect opportunity. But that's not Joseph's argumentation. It's the exact opposite. His freedom from supervision and promotion is his argument against doing this thing. His second argument that he marshals, you see it in verse 9. He goes on to say, there's only one thing that my master has withheld from me. And he realizes it's this one thing the master has kept back, and that's his wife. Now pause for a minute, friends. And think about Genesis 3. When Satan pointed out to Adam and Eve, there's only one thing God has held back from you. Isn't that unreasonable? He should give you everything. He's held back one whole thing from you. And their immediate response was to want and covet and desire the one thing that God had not given them. But when Joseph reflects on the fact that there's only one thing his master hasn't given him, his one flesh partner, he uses that as an argument against seeking after that thing. And then the third argument in verse 9 is his clenching argument. This is the closer. This is the real anchor for his soul. Here it is. He cannot, will not knowingly engage in sin. For he is aware that his whole life is to be led in the fear of the Lord and in obedience to God's revealed commands. He calls Mrs. Potiphar's offer what it is. Look what he says in verse 9. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? He calls it what it is, disobedience, cosmic treason, lawlessness. Joseph shows himself to be a theocentric, a God-centered man. He looks at every moral issue through this lens. Is it or is it not an offense against the Holy God? And if it is, I will flee. Now, my friends, you must do the same thing. with others, with Satan. Many times you must do it with yourself as well. There are reasons in every situation not to sin. There are arguments not to sin, no matter how beguiling the sin may be. There are reasons so weighty that no Christian who looks seriously at them will give in. We sin precisely because we forget or sometimes we refuse to remember what we know. Joseph makes those arguments for us. The sin Potiphar's wife was proposing would have been, he said, an outrage against his master's kindness to him and confidence in him. And then still much more, it would have been for that reason and many others an offense against God himself. Now you can think of countless other arguments, some of them specific to the certain sins you're tempted to commit. Think of all of the reasons that you have not to commit sin at any time in any way. The love of God, the cross of Christ, Gethsemane, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the danger of grieving Him, the damage to your soul, the damage to your family, the damage to your name, the unworthiness of it all, the tendency of sin to beget other sins, the giving of the evil one who hates you, a victory. what you will think on the judgment day, what you will think in heaven, and the arguments go on and on. You can marshal a hundred arguments against sin. And that's what Joseph does. He trots out three arguments in the moment and says, no, no, and no, for these reasons. Joseph is animated by his theological conviction that his life was from God and to God, that God was with him. He did just what our Savior did in the wilderness. You remember what Jesus did? He used argument after argument with the devil as well. There's no shortage of good arguments to make against sin, but there's a shortage of Christians who will make those arguments. Along with good arguments, look at the practical methodology Joseph engages in in verse 10. Tucked away there. Here is a practical strategy for Joseph's sexual purity. We read these words in verse 10. He refused to even be with her. He took great pains to make sure that he and Mrs. Potiphar were never alone together. That's why verse 11 makes a point of noting that on one particular day, it didn't work out that way. Isn't this a stark contrast with Judah? His brother, who in the last chapter doesn't avoid the seductress, he walks right up to her. But Joseph is doing the exact opposite. He's avoiding her like the plague. And then finally, Joseph simply flees. A decisive act of the will at the first sign of temptation. This is what makes Joseph such a model of Christian manhood. He beats back temptation when it is right in his face. I love Charles Spurgeon's response to Joseph's flight. He says, the right answer to most of Satan's temptations is a good pair of legs in the King's highway. Well, look at what comes from Joseph's flight. Look at verses 11 through 19. We'll see the false charges laid by Mrs. Potiphar. The day of course finally comes when Mrs. Potiphar thinks this is the day I'll strategize so we'll be alone. And by the way, this is always the strategy of the harlot. Men, don't be naive. Don't be foolish. If you don't get it from here, you can just look at Proverbs 7. You remember what the harlot there says in Proverbs 7? She says, my husband's gone and he won't be back for a long time. Let us have our fill of love. That's probably a quote of what Mrs. Potiphar says to Joseph in Genesis 39. That's always the strategy of the harlot. So we read in verse 11 and 12, she catches Joseph alone, grabs him by the shirt. This is an aggressive woman. And in verse 13, we see Joseph in holy flight. He runs leaving the shirt in her hand. The problem is the shirt, because with this tunic or shirt is evidence she falsely accuses him. In verse 14 and 15, first she tells the men of the household this lie. And then in verse 16 to 18, when Potiphar comes home, she tells it to him as well. Now, why does she do this? Maybe she fears exposure. but probably she is simply furious over rejection. You remember that great line from William Congreve's play, The Mourning Bride that was written in 1697 when he said it rightly, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And that's what we see here with Potiphar's wife. In a blind rage, she seeks to destroy Joseph with a scandalous lie. And when Potiphar comes home, I want you to notice what she says in verses 16 and 17. She puts things in a way that are calculated to get results, to get a rise out of a man. In verse 16, she's got the physical evidence. We read these words. She kept his garment with her. Now, I don't know if Potiphar took an hour or 10 to come home, but you notice what Mrs. Potiphar is doing all day long. She's walking around with Joseph's tunic in her arm. She keeps it with her until Potiphar gets home. And as soon as he walks in the door, she puts it in his face. And she says in verse 17, she stings Potiphar with the implication that he is to blame. She says, the Hebrew servant whom you brought to us. So she's saying, Potiphar, it's all your fault that this has happened. You made a bad choice, a bad purchase. It's your fault. And then she goes lower and appeals to both race and class issues. She says, first of all, this is a Hebrew and to an Egyptian, that's a low blow. And then not only a Hebrew, but a slave. And so she's appealing to all of Potiphar's prejudices and instincts. And when Potiphar hears this in verse 19, we read that his anger is aroused. The literal Hebrew in verse 19 is graphic. The literal Hebrew there is his nostrils are burning. His nose is flared out, he's so angry. There's only one problem with what Potiphar does. He shows his lack of wisdom. What can you expect from an unbeliever? Only the believer who has the indwelling Holy Spirit in the word can have wisdom. Potiphar shows his lack of wisdom because he fails to do something vital in these kinds of situations. He fails to ask Joseph his side of the story. You remember what Proverbs 18 tells us, the principle that must be upheld in all situations like these, the first to plead his case seems right until another comes along. But he doesn't ask Joseph. He believes his wife. And then we move to verse 20, the end of the story. Joseph in prison. The soggy ends with Joseph being tossed in the prison. This is now the second time in Joseph's life that he has been imprisoned for being faithful to God and to his master. And in each case, each time a piece of clothing was used to give a false report about him. And what's fascinating is, is the penalty for adultery or rape in Egyptian society was the immediate death penalty. But instead Potiphar only has Joseph imprisoned. Is it because his wife's story seems sketchy to him? Or that he knows his wife's character just a little too well, but he has to do something? Or is it simply the supernatural preservation of a gracious God? Now this prison that Joseph is thrown into in verse 20, this isn't like the county jail where petty criminals are locked up. No, we're told in verse 20 that this is where the king's prisoners are locked up, or we would say the Pharaoh's prisoners. These are people who are of some importance as it will be shown by the fact that the chief butler and the chief baker of the Pharaoh are placed in the same prison with Joseph. But don't get the idea that this is somehow a white collar prison, a country club prison. Keep a finger here and look at what the rest of the scripture tells us about this prison. Look at Psalm 105, and there we're given some historical insight into this Joseph's prison sentence. Psalm 105. Psalm 105, this is a historical Psalm, verse 17 and 18. We read there, he sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Now look at your margin note on verse 18. If you have a Bible with notes, you'll notice there the Hebrew reads literally, his soul came into iron. Or in other words, his soul was chained. Isn't that a graphic picture for you? This is Joseph in prison. Not only is Joseph there, and again, he's even more confined than he was as a slave, but now he's in painful leg irons, and this is crushing his soul. That's the picture we have. Think of what a glimpse looks like in the Egyptian prison 3,700 years ago. Joseph has to endure the shame of being labeled as a sex offender, a predator, a rapist, even though he knew he was innocent. The culture treated him as though a guilty man. And it would do no good to protest his innocence. Everyone in prison is innocent. I learned this by the way, when we were in Las Vegas and a prison ministry fell into our lap and my assistant pastor, Dr. Dean Haywood, who's now with the Lord Jesus, one of the greatest men I've known, dear brother, had a fine prison ministry in a medium security prison outside of Las Vegas, the Southern Desert Correctional Center. He invited me to go out there with him on a Friday night and teach his systematic theology class where he had 20 prisoners studying Louis Burkhoff's systematic theology. So I went out with him and went through a series of seven doors clanging behind me. And after I made the mistake of asking people what they're in there for and Dean saying, don't ask, don't ask, bad form, people started telling me. And I said to one brother, huge man who spent most of his time on the weights when he wasn't in the word. I said, are you guilty? He said, yep, I'm guilty. He said, in fact, I'm guilty of a lot more than I was caught for. He said, but what you'll not hear is he said, Carl, here's the distinction in prison. He said, everyone's innocent except the converted men. Because he said, the Christians in here will tell you I'm guilty. I'm here and I should be thrown under the jail. But he said, everyone else will keep pleading their innocence. So if Joseph even tries in an Egyptian prison to say, guys, I'm innocent, everybody goes, yeah, me too. I don't deserve to be in here. I was framed. But we know the rest of the story. Joseph is in this seeming hell hole because of the providence of God. He is there by the ordination of God. A sovereign God has him there for a good reason. Prison is the essential link in the chain to get Joseph into Pharaoh's palace. And prison is just the place for Joseph's character and holiness and humility and patience to be honed. Joseph will affirm this in Genesis 45, five, when he says to his brothers, 20 years later, God sent me there. And again, in Genesis 50, verse 20, when he says, God meant it for good. When he says those words, you have to remember, those aren't empty words. He's saying, being a slave, God meant it for good. Being in prison, being falsely accused, having my name drug through the mud, God meant it for good. How do we apply this word? Let me make a half a dozen or so applications to you. First of all, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 tells us that all scripture is profitable for our instruction Man, have you been taking notes? Have you been instructed on how to handle sexual temptation? Do you realize now the truth, the first Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to men who said, but Carl, you don't understand. My temptation is unique. This is a particularly attractive woman who sits at the next desk next to me. Nobody else has really ever had the kind of temptation I have. Brother, listen to scripture. No temptation is overtaking you, but such as is common to man. We want to think our temptation is unique. You're not facing anything different than other Christian men have been tempted with for the last 6,000 years. Moreover, You'll face nothing that's not already been overcome and resisted by millions of believers before you. Your calling is not to excuse disobedience. It is to stand against temptation as Joseph did. Have you been instructed on how to do that tonight? Genesis 39, especially verses seven through 12 teaches. The second application is we need a more honed and polished, talked about, Theology of flight. Scripture commands us repeatedly to flee sexual immorality. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.18. He says it again in 2 Timothy 2.22 when he says to Timothy, a minister, an elder, he writes to him, he says, Timothy, flee youthful lusts. But that's not all. We are told, for example, in 1 Corinthians 10, 14, to flee idolatry. There's nothing weak or cowardly about leaving a situation where temptation is pressing hard on you. We need to be wise enough. When people come to us with temptation issues, to be able to spot those and say, brother, you just need to get out of that situation. You need to run. A third application. This narrative is fundamentally about a life of integrity. See, don't make the mistake of thinking this is just a one-time thing. Joseph's integrity was of one fabric. And because he was upright and faithful and godly in all his relationships, all of them, He could resist being unfaithful in this one instance. See, this is not just about sexual fidelity. This is about accountability in every corner of your life, honesty, scrupulous with finances, sexual uprightness. Joseph saw his life as a unified, integrated, whole, his overall faithfulness. helped him reject this massive temptation. And what we have to understand is that little sins pave the way to big sins. And Joseph would not bite on either little sins or big sins. It was this characteristic that enabled him to resist this woman's advances. A fourth application. Do you see the typology here? Do you see the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? We've said that Joseph along with King David is the clearest type, picture, shadow, foreshadow of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. Do you see the picture here? Just as the lesser Joseph, the one spoken of in Genesis 39 was falsely accused by wicked people of crimes he did not commit. So the greater Joseph, the Lord Jesus was charged with all sorts of lying accusations. Joseph suffers for righteousness sake. But this is only a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of Jesus. Didn't we just see this morning that Jesus was willing to be numbered with the transgressors? Here we see Joseph being labeled, the type, as a lawbreaker and a transgressor. And in that picture, we see a dim foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus, who'd be accused of far worse things all for our redemption. Another application, and I say this very carefully, this is an application you don't wanna hear. The scriptures teach us what to do when we are falsely accused. Let me remind you of what they show us. In Psalm 37, the one who is falsely accused is told to be patient, the wicked will be judged, and God the judge will make everything right. In 1 Peter 2, Peter tells those who are falsely accused for righteousness sake, who are suffering for truth and righteousness to suffer patiently. Joseph will wait years in this prison. He will learn patience. What do you do as a believer when you're falsely accused, when your name and reputation are smeared? Of course, our tendency is immediately to jump to our own defense, to vindicate ourselves. But scripture teaches in that moment that we're to wait patiently, to be humble, and if necessary, to wait to the last day for God to vindicate us. A final application. There are many in the evangelical church today, whether you wanna call it the health and wealth gospel or the prosperity gospel, who teach that if someone just has enough faith, or if they are just godly enough, then that person will not suffer or be subject to sickness or hardship. You can have your best life now. Tell that to Joseph as he's sitting in an Egyptian prison in leg irons and his soul is being crushed. Tell him, Joseph, you just need to name it and claim it. You can have your best life now. The truth is, is that all through scripture in the lives of the great men and women of scripture, the exact opposite seems to predominate. Paul has his thorn in the flesh that he pleads with God to deliver him from and God doesn't. Paul is thrown into prison, beaten within an inch of his life countless times. Peter the same, Jeremiah and Isaiah know tremendous opposition in their day. David is chased all over the Mediterranean by a crazy wicked man. Those who are called to follow Christ generally are called on the same day to enroll in the school of affliction. Remember the formula. First the cross, then the crown. First humiliation, then exaltation. May God teach us these truths. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word and the power of it. Lord, I pray especially for brothers, for men in this room tonight as they grapple against sexual temptation, temptation to succumb and to give in to the world's siren song this week. Lord, we pray that this word would be brought to their remembrance by the Holy Spirit, that it would bring them strength and comfort and encouragement. And Lord, we pray that you would give men steel in their backbones and they would be able to resist temptation and see the devil flee from them even this week. And we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.