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Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Chapter 38 highlights the wretched morality of Judah. Chapter 39 highlights The rock's solid integrity of Joseph. his younger brother.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. and potavar An officer of Pharaoh, Captain of the guard, an Egyptian. bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. And the LORD was with Joseph. And he was a successful man.
And he was in the house of his master. The Egyptians. Joseph Sold as a slave. bought by a slave owner named Potiphar. God blesses him.
He's successful. He does his job. Obviously with all of his heart. Obviously not complaining. obviously with joy, because everything he does, people notice boy God, it seems like there's something different about him and they discover After he testifies.
Oh, it's the Lord that he believes in. That is blessing you and prospering you. You know, I wonder. If I Had an experience like Joseph. I'm taken down as a slave to Egypt.
Through no fault of my own, I wonder if my response wouldn't be, and I bet it would be something like this. This is a bummer! This is the devil. The devil is trying to ruin my life. Or How could God allow this to happen?
Or God, what's up? I've got so much talent. It's so wasted here. Why would you allow my talent, my creativity to be wasted here? I wonder if that would be my response, or if.
I would say, like Joseph obviously said.
Okay, I'm a slave in Egypt.
So I'm going to be the very best slave. that Egypt has ever seen. They ain't seen no slave like me. And he gave his heart to it. I want to make this point.
Wherever you find yourself tonight, you could chafe against it and you could focus on your vulnerability or you could focus on God's sovereignty. And you could look at the task, look at the place you are in life, and say, I am going to. Take this as the will of God, and I'm going to do what I do to my very best. Oh, but Skip You don't know. All I do is I I push a broom where I work.
I couldn't get a job doing anything else, so they hired me as the janitor. I just push a broom all day. Then, why not say, I'm going to be the best broom pusher this company has ever seen? How about that? Joseph a slave.
God was with him. He was a successful 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 He did to prosper in His hand.
So Joseph found favour in his sight. And then he made him, we don't know how long a time this is, but eventually he, Potiphar, made him, Joseph, overseer of his house. and all that he had he put under his authority.
So it was, from the time that he made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptians' house For Joseph's sake, Because Joseph was in it. And the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in his house. and in the field.
So Joseph has like the mightest touch. Whatever he does. Whatever he touches, the Lord touches. And when the Lord touches it, it's blessed. Not only does he have the might as touched, but he has.
The determination To be faithful. And to give a faithful testimony to the glory of God where He's at. It's amazing. Faithful testimony, whatever he does is successful, and he wants God to get the glory.
Now, if you live like that, You can expect A friendly visit from your friendly neighborhood tempter, the devil. If you live like that with this kind of integrity and that kind of desire to see God glorified, Don't you think you're going to raise the interest and the ire of your adversary, the devil? Do you think the devil and all of his minions would look at a life dedicated to Christ, sold out to Christ, and go, oh, how nice. Let's give him a standing ovation, hell. Come on, demons, clap for that young man.
devising a scheme with which to get a hold of him. He's young. He's single. He's good looking. Hmm.
And so something crafted just for that. is coming his way. If you think about it, so far, Joseph was successful. I just want to sort of like C.S. Lewis enter into the mind of Satan for a moment, like he did in his book, Screwtape Letters.
He probably went something like this: okay, Joseph, you did pretty good. You pass the temptation. Of bitterness that you could have been toward your brothers. You didn't get bitter toward them when they sold you as a slave. You passed the test of discouragement.
You didn't get discouraged. You just sort of. Doug, you're Your whole self into your job, and God touched it, and you became successful. Great, you pass those tests. But I'm not done with you yet.
I've got something. That's gonna come from out of nowhere. It's going to get your attention.
Now you have to know That The enemy of your soul, the devil and demons. have studied you. They know you. They know your strengths. They know your weaknesses.
They know when you're vulnerable. They know what things might be in your path that would trip you up. You have to be ready for that. It comes with the territory. There's this haunting scripture in the Gospel of Luke, the temptation of Jesus.
You know the story. And it says, when Satan was done tempting Jesus, that he left him until he had an opportune time. It's a haunting verse. You might leave a temptation and go, man, I was great. I did really good.
I withstood the attack of the enemy. He's waiting for the right time, the opportune time.
Now let's watch what happens with with Joseph. Verse six. He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. This is interesting. And he did not know what he had.
Except for the bread. which he ate. Huh. He trusted Joseph, in other words, so much, he didn't even know what was in the bank account. He didn't know about the profit from his business dealings.
He left everything to Joseph. He was that good. Over time, he just studied this young man and thought, this guy's faithful, he's loyal, he's trustworthy. You know, I'm giving it all to him.
So he didn't even know what was going on, except. I got food. The bread that was right in front of him, his own meal, that's all he knew.
Now it says the end of the verse: Now Joseph was handsome. In form, and appearance. Hm Young man, Good looking. Single In pagan territory where there's no other believers around to see what he's up to. Hm, I wonder what he'll do.
Well, let's see. It came to pass, after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph.
So evidently, Potiphar was not the only one impressed with Joseph. misses Potiphar was as well, but for different reasons.
Now notice how subtle she is. And she said to Joseph. Lie with me. Just sort of so subtle, huh? Talk about a come on.
Come to bed with me. We're not told what's up. What's up with Potifar and Mrs. Potifar? Is this the typical Potiphar is busy, gives no attention to his wife, his wife's jealous.
Or could it be that in that culture in Egypt, He was familiar with other women and so in revenge she's trying to get back. We're not told. But she is a desperate housewife. And she's got her eyes fixed. on a young man named Joseph.
Verse eight. But he refused. Notice that he refused. He said no. He said, No way.
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 my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I.
Nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. Number one, let me tell you what Joseph did to counteract this temptation. Number one, ethical conviction. Ethical conviction.
Okay. You see what he's saying is look. Your master, your husband. My my boss Trust me. He's given everything into my hands.
He's given me his trust. I will not betray his trust. Do you realize that you have people in your life? that are trusting you. not to succumb to temptation.
They put their trust in you. Your spouse has entrusted you not to fall to temptation. Your children have trusted. that you'll be loyal to your vows. Your family, your friends.
The body of Christ, all trusting. like Joseph knows that his own master Potiphar trusts him. Ethical conviction.
But notice what else he says. How then, verse 9, the end of verse 9, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? This is number two way he fought it, not just ethical conviction. Spiritual devotion. He's devoted to God.
Notice he doesn't say, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against you, Mrs. Potiphar? Or how can I do this great wickedness and sin against Mr. Potiphar? More than them.
More than her. was God. The greatest consideration in Joseph's life. It's called in the Bible the fear of God. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before we return to Skip's teaching, in his powerful book, Beyond the Summer of Love, Pastor Skip Heitzig helps you understand God's plan and his rules for relationships that flourish and reflect his own love. And when you give a gift of $25 or more this month to support the Worldwide Ministry of Connectviskip-Heitzig, we'll send you Beyond the Summer of Love. This resource is for anyone interested in having a successful relationship. Whether you're single, searching for love, planning to get married, or already married, this book is a helpful guide to help your relationships flourish as God intends. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $25 or more.
Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. The fear of the Lord. Have you heard that term? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Proverbs 8: The fear of the Lord is to hate Evil. The idea, what does that mean? The fear of the Lord. It means an awesome reverence for God. It's an awareness of the thereness of God.
I know God is here. I know God is there. I know God is watching. And that was what motivated Joseph when No one else was looking. He had no believers.
He had no God. Godly people who saw what he was. This is Paganville. He could do what he wanted. No one was in the house.
Nobody saw this, just her and him. But he knew that God saw. Do you remember the story when Moses killed that Egyptian? We'll get to it in the book of Exodus. I say, do you remember it?
I'm taking for granted that you've already read that story in the Bible. When Joseph was going to kill the Egyptian, the Bible says he looked this way and he looked that way. His problem is he didn't look that way. He only looked this way and that way, looking for what on the horizontal level. Could be watching Him, not knowing God is watching always.
Joseph knew that. That was this young man's conviction, spiritual devotion. Fear of the Lord. How could I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Verse 10, so it was.
As she spoke to Joseph, Day. Bye. Day. that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her. Tip number three.
In Joseph's victory. continual Let's call it continual refutation so that we we can stick with the rhyming. Yeah. He refused every day. Every day she came on to him.
Every day. Continually he said No, no, no, no It became the pattern of his life to say no. How about If you Start looking at your life. Like a city, like an ancient city that has walls around it and gates. The walls protect invaders.
The gates let people in and out. If you don't want Garbage in the city, you close the gate. If you don't want bad stuff in the city or bad people, you close the gate.
Well, let's say you're looking out down the road and you see a Beat up old jalapi, a truck coming at you. I'm modernizing it a little bit. And it's billowing smoke and it's highly A pollutant vehicle, and it's coming right toward the city gate. You don't want the pollution in, so, what do you do? What do you do?
You close the gate. These here, the eyes, These are the gates of the city. These ears These are the gates of the city. You and I let in Arroll? and visual stimuli every single day.
And we live in a filthy world. seeking to pour into you all of its pollution and all of its filth. You need to. I need to. Learn to close the gates.
Learn to go. Don't want to see that. Don't want to hear that. Don't want to be here. Every day, lie with me, lie with me, lie with me.
No. No. No. No. A continual pattern.
And not only to lie with her, did you notice the end of verse 10? Or to Be with her. I'm not going to even be around her. There's a secret. Not going to be around her.
He didn't say, you know, Mrs. Potiphar, let's just have coffee sometime, you and I. I really want to minister to you. I want to find out why you have this angst against your husband and love for other men. Maybe I can.
Forget you? I don't want to be around you. Get away from me. And yet how many people they get Involved in affairs, sort of, oh, well, it's just, I can't just cut it off. I want to, that would be a bad witness.
What have you been doing the last few months? Cut it off. Say no. Don't even be with that person. Martin Luther once said: You can't stop birds from flying around your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair.
That's what he was doing. He just kept saying no. Verse 11, but it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work, And none of the men were in the house inside, that she caught him by his garment. and said, it's always this garment with Joseph, isn't it? You know, it was the garment before, the multicolored garment of speciality.
Now he's got this Egyptian garment. She grabs the garment. And she says, Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside. Or you might say, he streaked outside.
Why would he do that? Why wouldn't he grab his coat? Better to lose your garment than to lose your character. I'm out of here. Foom.
took off in the other direction. ran away. If you're going to walk with the Lord, We need to learn to walk toward God on a daily basis. Always walk toward Him. Always seek His Word, His Spirit, His will.
Walk toward God and walk away from godlessness. And that means influences that are godless as well.
So it was when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, See, He has brought to us this Hebrew to mock us. He came to me to lie with me. And I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened when he heard. That I lifted up my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.
So she kept his garment with her until his master Potiphar came home. And she spoke to him with words like these, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us. And he came into me to mock me, and so it happened. I lifted up my voice and cried. that he left his garment with me and fled outside.
So she concocts a story that Joseph was the one that came onto her and tried to rape her. She was a big, fat liar. To put it mildly.
So it was when his master heard the words. which his wife spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me after this manner. that his anger was aroused. Who is it aroused at? I'm not so sure it was aroused at Joseph.
Because you'll notice in the next verse, 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. Yeah. In ancient Egypt, an attempted rape was punishable by death. It was a capital offense.
And somebody like Potiphar with that kind of a position would no doubt have brought Joseph to immediately be executed. If He believed Joseph really did this. I'm not so sure his anger is aroused at Joseph. I think his anger is aroused. The Bible says it's aroused.
It doesn't say at whom or at what. I think he's angry. Because he knows his wife's character. He also knows Joseph's character. He knows that the Lord has blessed him personally because of Joseph.
And he knows he has to get rid of this guy now and put him in the prison. He's mad. But I think he's mad at her. Because of her character. But the Lord.
Aren't you glad you have those phrases scattered throughout the Bible? But the Lord. Huh. If you could read a story of your life. I wonder what you'd read.
So-and-so got fired today, but The Lord Something bad happened to that person, but The Lord. That's Joseph's life. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all that the prisoner all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did.
It was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority.
So there again, Like in Potiphar's house, he's faithful, he's loyal, he's not moping around. How come I'm in jail? This place stinks. God's with them. And he's thinking, okay.
I guess God wants me to have a prison ministry. Because I'm in prison. Again, instead of focusing on human vulnerability, why did this happen to me? He's focused on divine sovereignty. Hmm.
I could minister right here. In jail. Because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. What a Journey, Joseph. is on.
From his parents? To the pit? To Potiphar to the prison. and next to the palace, And every place his weird journey takes him. The Lord is with them.
Let me encourage you tonight to do two things. Summed up by one word Run. Run for your life. Run. From sin.
Run to the Saviour. Run away from those things, those people that are dragging you away from God. Cut them off. Run from them. And run to the Saviour.
If you've never read Pilgrim's Progress, pick it up sometime. Read the book that Charles Spurgeon said he read twice a year. In that story. The chief character named Christian. Is leaving his town the city of destruction.
He sees it smoldering behind him. He goes through a very narrow gate to go escape. And as he's escaping through the narrow gate, and he hears people crying in the background, and they're trying to drag him back in. Finally, he stuffs his fingers in his ears so he can't hear what's behind him. He can't hear the people, and he cries out.
You know how you go, me, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meme, He cries out, Life, Life, Eternal Life, Eternal Life, and He runs through the narrow gate toward the celestial city. A great way to live. Put your fingers in your ears. Life, life, eternal life, eternal life. Run for your life.
Run from sin. Run to the Savior. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $25 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skiff-Heitzig, we'll send you Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World by Pastor Skiff-Heitzig, to help you build biblically healthy relationships or repair ones that have been damaged by sin. To request your copy of Beyond the Summer of Love, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzigs. Make a connection, never fool.
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