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Sermon preached on Genesis 39 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/21/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript – (Unfortunately, not able to post Audio, due to technical difficulties)
We return to Genesis’ account of Joseph after last week’s brief aside to tell us about God’s redeeming work in the life of Judah in the midst of his sin. We pick back up with Joseph having been taken out of the pit and sold off to slavery in Egypt, and now becoming a servant in the house of Potiphar the captain of the Egyptian guard. In today’s passage, we will see how the LORD was with Joseph through these times.
Let us begin in our first point to consider verses 1-6. There, we see Joseph in Potiphar’s house. Verse 1 summarizes his situation that he found himself in after being sold into slavery. We might appreciate that this was a decent assignment, to be in a household of one that had some prominence in Egyptian society. But then we come to verse 2 and it is so thematic for our sermon today. That the LORD was with Joseph. It mentions this specifically for Joseph as he was in this house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. Even though Joseph was no longer with his family, which was the chosen people, and even though he was no longer in Canaan, which was God’s chosen land for this people, yet here God was with him. He may have felt all alone, but he was not. By the way, notice how it here repeatedly describes this as the LORD being with Joseph, the personal name for the God of Israel, not just the generic word for “God”. That way there is no confusion to think this was an Egyptian god being with Joseph now that he was in Egypt. No, the God of his fathers, the LORD, continues to be with him even though he is now in Egypt.
Let us then observe all the fruit that came from the Lord being with him. Verse 2 says he was successful. In other words, even as a servant, God was blessing and prospering his work, so that he was successful in his labors. So then, in verse 3, we see that it this so obvious that even his master Potiphar noticed it. Verse 3, “His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” This would have been a great testimony of the Lord and his might for someone like Potiphar to take notice of how specifically the LORD so prospered Joseph. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant he succeeded in all he did.
This then resulted in Joseph being promoted. Verse 4 describes that Joseph thus found favor in Potiphar’s sight. He ends up setting Joseph in charge of everything in his household. Potiphar had a large house with plenty of people working for him and various things happening. Potiphar sets Joseph over everything. So while Joseph had been humbled to become a slave, he is now exalted to be the chief servant in a relative position of authority. As verse 9 will describe, no one was higher in the house than him, that there was a sense that Joseph could basically command anyone to anything in that house. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant he was exalted to a high position.
Verse 5 then tells us how much this blessed Potiphar’s house. Everything Joseph had been overseeing prospered. So, when Potiphar set Joseph in charge of everything in his house, then everything in his house prospered. That’s what verse 5 tells us, explaining it was the LORD’s blessings. Notice the specific wording there in verse 5. For Joseph’s sake, Potiphar’s house is blessed. So, the LORD being with Joseph meant that his master got to benefit from it. On a related note of application, we are reminded here that it is the duty of servants to look to bless their master’s estate as they serve their master. It would be an unrighteous servant who wouldn’t work hard because he knew it would only benefit his master. Rather, a godly servant has his master’s interest before him and serves him as if he were serving God. Indeed, isn’t that literally the case, even as we see with Joseph? For as he is serving, God is with him. Thus, he is serving in the presence of God. So then, in verse 6, we see that thus Potiphar entrusts everything to him, and that this meant that Potiphar didn’t have to have any concerns. He found Josephy trustworthy and he had peace knowing everything was in good hands. Again, the reason for all this was that the LORD was with Joseph.
Let us turn now in our second point to consider the temptation Joseph experienced from Potiphar’s wife. The needed background is told to us in verse 6. Joseph was a handsome man. While Potiphar looked at Joseph and saw a blessed, capable, and trustworthy servant, his wife looked at Joseph and saw an object of her lust. After some initial time had past, she began to make her move. She became the proverbial seductress, trying to get Joseph to commit adultery with her. This is the kind that Proverbs 5:3 warns about saying, “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” So, she orders him in verse 7 to lie with her.
Yet, Joseph commendably refuses her. You have to love his explanation there in verses 8-9. First, he appeals to the trust his master has placed in him. Potiphar doesn’t have to worry about anything, because he has trusted Joseph with its care. To lie with his wife would be to betray that trust. Second, he appeals to the great honor that Potiphar has given Joseph. Joseph basically acknowledges that he has been bestowed with everything that belongs to his master, with just this one exception, his wife. Why should a lowly servant expect to receive anything from his master, but this master has generously shared everything with Joseph, except of course his wife. Third, Joseph very explicitly points out to her that she is his wife. The implied argument here is that she shouldn’t be asking for this. So, Joseph won’t betray his master’s trust or spurn his master’s generosity to take the only thing in the house that he has claimed exclusively for himself.
Joseph then says his would be a great wickedness and sin. Not just a little wickedness. All sins are wicked. But some are more wicked than others. Adultery is a more wicked sin than many. God made marriage for the union of one man with one woman in an exclusive bond, until death do they part. Joseph’s rationale here that he tells her is to say that he would be greatly sinning against his master Potiphar if he did this.
But then Joseph adds one other amazing truth. At the end of verse 9 he says that it would also be a sin against God. How true this is. All sins, even when those sins are directed against others, are still ultimately sins against God. For God is the ultimate Lord and the lawgiver that demands righteousness from us creatures that he has created in his image. This is something David would later acknowledge in Psalm 51:4, a psalm where he confesses his sin before God for the adultery he committed with Bathsheba. Maybe David had this passage with Joseph in mind. We mentioned last week how this passage shows Joseph’s greater righteousness than his brother Judah. Sadly, Judah’s descendant in King David would show himself more like Judah than Joseph in the Bathsheba incident. But thankfully, Judah and David’s later descendant in King Jesus would finally come a Son who is greater than all the Sons of Israel in righteousness.
Let us also note that for Joseph to point out that the sin was ultimately against God implies another point. While his first argument was that it would be wrong to Potiphar, we know that Potiphar’s wife wasn’t intending for Potiphar to find out. She surely wants this great sin to be done in secret, so that Potiphar didn’t know. But it would still be wrong. That is especially because our sin is ultimately against God, and even if you can hide it from man, God sees all things.
Let us also here note that Joseph knew it was wrong to commit adultery even though it was many years before Moses received the Ten Commandments that said, “Do not commit adultery.” This shows that God’s law was written on his heart, as is true for all humans. Even Potiphar’s wife here knew this was wrong. But surely we can thus conclude the reason why Joseph not only knew God’s law but kept it, is because the LORD was with him. The LORD’s grace was at work in his heart that he not only knew the right thing but had the strength to do the right thing.
Let us also note here how persistent Potiphar’s wife was. She didn’t just tempt him one time. Verse 10 tells us that she tempted him regularly, day after day. But he wouldn’t listen to her. Notice there that it mentions not only that he wouldn’t be with her. But also that he wouldn’t even lie beside her. You could imagine how her temptations went. I could imagine her saying, “What’s the harm in just sitting here next to me? What’s the harm in just laying down next to me and visiting with me.” But wisdom knows the danger of that. Joseph, because God was with him, knew the danger. Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to be with her. But how could Joseph be with her if the LORD is with Joseph? Joseph knew it would not be right to be both with the LORD and with her at the same time. Those things were opposed to each other.
Let us turn now to our third point for today and look at verses 11-23. There, we will sadly see Joseph falsely accused and condemned. This begins with Potiphar’s wife once again trying to seduce Joseph. He yet again rejects her but this time she manages to grab and take his garment off him. Apparently, she at this point is so angry at him for all his rejection of her that she quickly thinks of a way to punish him. She comes up with this evil lie, accusing him of trying to rape her.
She certainly puts on the whole show to pull this off. She cries out and tells all the servants. Her story really emphasizes her crying out because that is what was required to distinguish between rape and adultery, if the woman cried out or not. She then lays the garment down right by her so she can show it to Potiphar when he gets home. She puts him on the defensive even by how she tells Potiphar about it. And her evil lie worked. Apparently, it is not just Israelites who are good at deception and scheming.
Potiphar is angry, verse 19. As Proverbs 6:34-35 says, “For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.” And so, Potiphar sends Joseph off to prison. Like how our things began when Joseph found himself trapped in a pit, now again Joseph was back in confinement, unable to escape.
But then notice what happens, again! Joseph again finds favor now with the master of the prison. It’s like a replay all over again. The master of the prison recognizes that whatever Joseph touches it prospers. Like Potiphar, the prison master sets Joseph over everything in the prison. Whatever was going on in the prison, it became under Joseph’s oversight. Like Potiphar, the prison master no longer had any worries or concerns because Joseph was overseeing things and everything he did prospered. And the text is very clear why this happened again. It was because the Lord was with him. Because the Lord was again with Joseph while he was in that prison, that is why Joseph was so successful and it is why he got promoted and came into a position of authority.
Now this is what I want us all to understand today. God wasn’t just with Joseph when his works succeeded and prospered and when he got promoted into positions of authority. No, God was also with Joseph when Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him. God was still with Joseph when Potiphar’s anger kindled against him, even though he didn’t deserve it. God was yet with Joseph when he is banished from Potiphar’s presence and thrown into some horrible prison. Yes, surely God had been with Joseph even when he was in the pit that his brothers threw him into. Surely God was with him through all those times, not just in the times of outward prosperity, but also during the times of humbling affliction.
It can be hard to understand the providential workings of God. Surely, there can be much mystery in what God is doing through such highs and lows of life. We can begin to recognize the things God was doing in Joseph’s life. May we have the wisdom to understand in our own lives too, when we face such highs and lows. For Joseph, we know the big picture, that his time in prison is how he’ll ultimately get an introduction to Pharoah so he can again find favor with a master and again get promoted to an even high place of authority. This will be so he can save his family and many other lives from the famine. We can see how this all works out in the big picture. But couldn’t God have worked such a connection with Pharoah in a little more direct way? One that didn’t involve so much trial and affliction for Joseph?
Yet, shall we dare to give counsel to the God of all the universe? We might instead admit that God surely had a purpose through all of this. We might speculate that these things God used to prepare Joseph to be a humble leader. We see many righteous qualities in Joseph. But we do remember the boy dreamer who dreamed about how he’d come into a position of authority over his family and he couldn’t resist to tell his family about it. We couldn’t help but see a little too much arrogance in that. But we see that twice here God humbles and then exalts Joseph. It may be that this was part of his maturing Joseph into a humble leader, so that when he finally does come into great power, he’ll be prepared as a man of God to properly exercise it.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, today we’ve reflected on the great value of the LORD being with Joseph. Whether Joseph prospered or suffered, God was always there with him. And the encouragement I want to give each of us today is this. If you are a Christian, our Lord Jesus says to each of us, I will be with you, forever, even unto the end of the age.
King Jesus will be with us in the good times and in the hard times. He will be with us when we are succeeding and even if we are failing. He loves you. He forgives you. He desires you to grow into the man or woman of God that he intends you to be. But such a promise is only for Christians, those who have been born again and become disciples of Jesus. Scripture tells us that God the Holy Spirit comes into the Christian’s heart so that they are never alone, but God is always with us. If you are not yet a Christian, I urge you to be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Become his disciple and begin to walk a new life by his grace.
This leads me then to another application from our passage today. Because the Christian has the Holy Spirit with him, he must flee sexual immorality. As 1 Corinthians 6 says, our bodies are members of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and those joined in one spirit with the Lord. We shall not take our body and join it in adultery or in any form of sexual immorality. For we were bought with a price. As Christians, let us glorify God with our bodies. Even if all the world engages in these sorts of immoralities, let us live differently because Jesus is with us.
Maybe you have failed in this area? Maybe even repeatedly? Or maybe for you it has been a spiritual failing not a physical one because you have been committing this sin through pornography. Whatever the form of your great wickedness, I want to assure you that if you are here today hearing this message, there is yet time for you to repent of your sins. Even if you are a Christian who has failed in this area. There is yet time to repent and know the grace of God. Turn to Jesus and live the Spirit-filled life. Let us each pursue the holiness of body and soul that is fitting for such vessels of the Holy Spirit.
So then, whatever befalls us in this life, good or evil, sickness or health, plenty or want, may we know that we can do all things through Christ who is with us. Let us take encouragement today in knowing that Jesus is with us until the end of the age, and so let us look to live as those united to him, now and unto eternity.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
