Skip to content The Story of Joseph: Faith Amid Adversity Jan 16 · 15 min ...more
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Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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Joseph's Favoritism and Betrayal 0:09 Good morning, and welcome to stand on the word as our journey takes us to a very familiar story. That is the story of Joseph. We're gonna be looking at Genesis chapters 37 through0:21 39 this morning. Verse 3 of chapter 39, and his master saw that the lord was with him and that the lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So as I mentioned, very familiar story0:33 today, the story of Joseph, his coat of many colors, his envious brothers who sold him as a slave, how God prospered him in Potiphar's house until Potiphar's wife accused him of doing0:45 what she wanted him to do. The rug was pulled out from him. He was cast into prison. And sandwiched in between, we have an account of Joseph's older half brother, Judah, failing to0:56 fulfill his promise to his daughter-in-law, and then thinking she was a prostitute, having sex with her, which produced twins. Very interesting story. Blessed began chapter 37 verse 2. This1:08 is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers, and the lad was with the sons of Billah and the1:20 sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of of them to his father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all of1:32 his children because he was the son of his old age. Also, he made him a tunic of many colors. Okay. From here until the end of Genesis, the whole narrative really shifts to Joseph. Joseph1:44 takes the center stage. Chapter 37, straightforward account of Jacob's favoritism toward Joseph, the animosity that that2:02 God had given to him almost led to him being killed. He was spared from being killed, sold as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. I wanna move on to chapter 38. It,Judah's Moral Failure and Redemption 2:14 it it it is not an unrelated salacious interlude slipped into this narrative. It is a crucial link in the unfolding story of redemption. Now this2:26 chapter preserves the geological line that runs from Judah to the Messiah, Jesus, and in doing so reveals that even amid moral failure and2:38 human brokenness, god is actively advancing his redemptive purposes, and we should all take encouragement in that. So from the start, Judah's behavior is in question.2:50 But because, I wanna really focus on chapter 39, we're gonna move fast to the end of Judah's escapades here. Verse 24 of chapter 38, and it came to pass about 3 months after, this was after3:02 he thought his, daughter-in-law was a prostitute. He has sex with her. She has a child. Alright? About 3 or she's pregnant. About 3 months after that, Judah was told saying, Tamar, your daughter-in-law,3:14 has played the harlot. Furthermore, she is with child by harlotry. So Judah said, bring her out and let her be burned. When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law saying, by the man3:26 to whom these belong, I am with child. And she said, please determine whose these are, the signet and cord and staff. Now when the encounter had occurred, as we read earlier,3:39 she asked him to make good on his promise of a goat. So she gave her he gave he gave her a form of identification, which was a signet bracelet3:51 or a, a necklace. Verse 26. So Judah Judah acknowledged them and said, she has been more righteous than I because I did not give her to Shelah,4:03 my son, and he never knew her again. So this is kind of, I think, a turning point for Judah in recognizing his failure. Now it came to pass, and the reason so he had 2 her4:15 Tamar's first husband died according to the Levitical law. The second, son took the first wife to produce offspring.4:27 He didn't wanna do it. You can read that. God killed him too. So, Judah is thinking it's Tamar. That's the jinx, and he doesn't wanna give his third son to her to marry because he doesn't4:39 wanna lose him as well. That was not the case. It was that the men were deceptive. Now it came to pass at the time of giving birth that behold, twins were in her womb. And so it was when4:51 she was giving birth that 1 put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying this 1 came out first. Then it happened as she drew back5:02 his hand that his brother came out unexpectedly, and she said, how did you break through? This breach be upon you. Therefore, his name was called Perez.5:15 Now what we read in this, interluding chapter is in part supporting evidence of scripture's authenticity and veracity. Its brutal candor,5:27 does not gloss over the character flaws of, of the main figures here. It doesn't cover up their sin. It it it allows us to see that these messengers and couriers of the faith were flawed.5:39 In that way, it's not about the messenger, rather it's about the message. Now Matthew 1, we have the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and look who appears in verse 3. Matthew 15:51 3, Judah begot Perez by and Zerah by Tamar. Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Now Perez is6:03 the offspring of relationship that might even make some in Hollywood blush. And from this lineage, Jesus, the Messiah, came. Again, this heralds the redemptive6:14 nature and the mercy of god. Now I wanna go to Joseph in Egypt who was the, the polar opposite of his half brother, Judah.Joseph's Integrity and God's Favor 6:26 Now Joseph is a type of Christ, the Messiah that was to come. He will we will soon see him rising to the highest levels of leadership, but it didn't start there. Alright. Verse 1, chapter 39. Now Joseph had been6:38 taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The lord was6:50 with Joseph. That is a defining factor. The lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. So how do you become a7:02 successful man? 17 years old, sold into slavery by your brothers. How do you do it? You trust god and you serve him. Verse 3, and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all7:14 he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had, he put under7:26 his authority. So this is very familiar, very familiar account of what we read with Jacob and Laban. Jacob appears to have been a gifted young or Joseph, rather,7:38 appears to have been a gifted young man, but it was the favor of the lord that distinguished him and increased, increased the favor and the the the7:50 effect of his work, and the lord was with him because he reverenced him. Verse 7, and it came to pass after these things that the master's wife cast longing eyes on8:02 Joseph and said, lie with me? Just a, a passing note here. Alright? Elicit sex factors prominently into the storyline of mankind.8:14 Right? And and we see it in scripture. I mean, even among the best among the best. I mean, King David, we're gonna see that in in in a while. It should be a warning. Alright? It8:26 should be a warning. Verse 8. But he refused and said to his master's wife, look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my8:37 hand. There is no 1 greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin8:49 against God? 2 observations here. 1, as I've pointed out before, the written law, the 10 commandments had not yet been given, but yet, here again, we see a9:01 clear understanding that adultery is wrong. Why? Again, it's the moral law of God that's written on the hearts of human beings. And by the way, the moral law is evidence of the9:13 fact that there is a God who created us, and he wrote this upon our hearts. Now this sin, number 2, this sin, while certainly affecting and offending Potiphar, look9:25 what Joseph said. First and foremost, this was against God. It is God who is offended by our sin, and it's important that we understand that our sin ultimately is against9:37 God. You know, it yes. It might affect someone else. It might be offend someone else, but it is ultimately against God. And when we see sin that way, then we realize there are no victimless crimes9:49 nor is the sin element eliminated because of a party's consent. So it is God that is offended by immoral and sinful behavior.10:01 It's not the parties involved or the party that is offended, or can you give consent to that which offends God? Verse 10. So it was as she spoke to Joseph10:13 day by day that he did not heed her. I mean, he she was wearing him out. He did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her, but it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his10:25 work, and none of the men of the house was inside. So he she kept his garment. You know the story. He he ran away. She grabbed the garment. He ran away. And then it says, so she kept verse 16.10:36 So she kept his garment until, the master came home. Now I just just this again, another side note. This is what the why I think the so called Billy Graham rule that we've heard about10:48 in recent years of men not being alone with a woman is, that is not their wife, might be mocked by the the the media and rejected by the entertainment crowd, but11:00 it's good advice for men. Verse 17. Then she spoke to him with words like these saying, the Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to mock to me to mock me. So what happened is I lifted up my voice11:12 and cried out that he left his garment with me and fled outside. So it was when his master heard these words, which his wife spoke to him saying, your servant did to me after this manner that his anger was aroused.11:24 Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the prison. Just when it looked like Joseph had gotten11:36 back on his feet and things were starting to come together, he landed on go directly to jail. But god look at verse 29. Verse 3111:48 of chapter 39. But the lord was with Joseph, but the lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor. He gave him favor in the sight of the12:00 keeper of the prison. That is something I often pray. Lord, grant me favor. Let let your favor rest upon me. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who12:11 were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing. So how do we make the best? Now you may not have been cast into prison or sold as a slave, but, you know, there are12:23 some difficult times that we face in life, circumstances beyond our control. How do we make the best of what can be a very bad situation? We serve the lord. It goes back to the words12:35 Joseph spoke in chapter 37. When Jacob called his name in chapter 37 verse 13. And Israel said to Joseph, are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come. I will send you to12:47 them. So he said, here I am. When we're willing to go wherever and however the Lord sends us, the Lord can entrust to us12:59 he he can entrust us to be used by him. Now sometimes that that requires the refining of burning things away, and that's what was happening with Joseph. He didn't know what I've many of you have experienced things like13:10 that. You don't really put all the pieces together until years later, but it is a refining preparation process. But here here here's the thing we have to understand. We13:22 cannot let circumstances orchestrated by others take our eyes off of Jesus because what happens then, instead of being prepared to be used by God, we become bitter13:34 and angry, rendering ourself useless to god in the eternal purposes of his kingdom. And we don't want to miss that. Father, thank you for your13:45 word. What a powerful account we have of of Joseph, and especially seeing it juxtaposed to Judah. Lord, may we be faithful. Lord, even though the the the world13:57 is constantly calling and heckling and and and and trying to seduce, may our eyes be upon you. And, Lord, I pray that you would prepare us and equip us that we might14:09 be used for your eternal purposes for the glory of your great name. For we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and, let me again remind you, it's not too late to invite14:21 someone to join us on this journey. In fact, we're gonna soon be finished with the book of Genesis, and we'll be going into the book of Job. A great, on ramp for others to join us in this journey through the word of God.14:33 All the information can be found at f r c dot o r g slash bible. Until next time, keep standing on the word.14:44 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:56 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Joseph's Favoritism and Betrayal2:14 Judah's Moral Failure and Redemption6:21 Joseph's Integrity and God's Favor
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