Light In The Darkness

Please take your Bibles and open them up this morning to Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

!

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adulamite, whose name was Hira.

There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua.

He took her and went into her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.

She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah.

Judah was in Haseb when she bore him.

And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan,

Go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her and raise up offspring for your brother.

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he went into his brother's wife,

he would waste the semen on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.

And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law,

Remain a widow in your father's house till Shelah, my son, grows up.

For he feared that he would die like his brothers.

So Tamar went and remained in her father's house.

In the course of time, the wife of Judah, she was daughter, died.

When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers,

he and his friend Hira, the Adulamite.

And when Tamar was told,

Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,

she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil,

wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Inam,

which is on the road to Timnah.

For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

He turned to her at the roadside and said,

Come, let me come into you.

For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, What will you give me that you may come into me?

He answered, I will send you a young goat from the flock.

And she said, If you give me a pledge until you send it.

He said, What pledge shall I give you?

She replied, Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.

So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him.

Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil,

she put on the garments of her widowhood.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend, the Adulamite,

to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.

And he asked the men of the place,

Where is the cult prostitute who is at Inam on the roadside?

And they said, No cult prostitute has been here.

So he returned to Judah and said, I have not found her.

And also the men of the place said, No cult prostitute has been here.

And Judah replied, Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at.

You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.

About three months later, Judah was told,

Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral.

Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.

And Judah said, Bring her out and let her be burned.

As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law,

By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.

And she said, Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.

And then Judah identified them and said,

She is more righteous than I, since I did not give to her to my son Shelah.

And he did not know her again.

When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.

And when she was in labor, one put out a hand,

And the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying,

This one came out first.

But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out.

And she said, What a breach you have made for yourself.

Therefore his name was called Perez.

Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand,

and his name was called Zerah.

Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt,

and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian,

had bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man,

and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

His master saw that the Lord was with him,

and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him,

and he made him overseer of his house,

and put him in charge of all that he had.

From the time that he had made him overseer in his house,

and over all that he had,

the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.

The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had,

in house and in field.

So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge,

and because of him,

he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

And after a time,

his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said,

Lie with me.

But he refused and said to his master's wife,

Behold, because of me,

my master has no concern about anything in the house,

and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

He is not greater in this house than I am,

nor has he kept back anything from me except you,

because you are his wife.

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

And as she spoke to Joseph day after day,

he would not listen to her,

to lie beside her,

or even to be with her.

But one day,

when he went into the house to do his work,

and none of the men of the house was there in the house,

she caught him by his garment,

saying,

Lie with me.

But he left his garment in her hand,

and fled,

and got out of the house.

And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand,

and had fled out of the house,

she called to the men of her household,

and said to them,

See,

He has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us.

He came into me to lie with me,

and I cried out with a loud voice.

And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out,

he left his garment beside me and fled,

and got out of the house.

Then she laid up his garment by her,

until his master came home.

And she told him the same story,

saying,

The Hebrew servant,

whom you have brought among us,

came into me to laugh at me.

But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried,

he left his garment beside me,

and fled out of the house.

As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him,

This is the way your servant has treated me,

his anger was kindled.

And Joseph's master took him,

and put him into the prison,

the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

And he was there in prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph,

and showed him steadfast love,

and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge

of all the prisoners who were in the prison.

Whatever was done there,

he was the one who did it.

And the keeper of the prison paid no attention

to anything that was in Joseph's charge,

because the Lord was with him.

And whatever he did,

the Lord made it succeed.

The grass withers,

and the flower fades,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Father God,

we ask now your blessing on the preaching of the word.

Give us ears to hear,

and fertile hearts, Lord.

Fertile soil for the truth of the gospel.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I hope you prayed for your pastor this week.

Preaching the way that we do,

working through books of the Bible,

does not give me the luxury of skipping over

difficult text or hard subject matters.

And it's sometimes shocking when we read passages like this,

because this is not G-rated material, is it?

This is an honest and raw, unfiltered look

at the ugliness of sin.

And the truth is,

even though we are far removed from the context of Genesis,

here are thousands of years removed,

in a different place,

in a different culture,

in a different continent,

not much really has changed at all, has it?

We live in the same sinful world

as Judah and Tamar and Joseph,

and just like them,

we live in a culture that openly celebrates

and embraces all sorts of wickedness,

especially sexual wickedness,

which seems to be right at the center

of our passage this morning.

And when you realize that,

it makes us ask,

well, what is the hope

for such a wicked and sinful people?

And for God's people,

the church,

who live right there in the middle

of such great wickedness,

well, what hope do we have

for resisting the temptations of the world?

The hope that we have,

and the hope for sinners of all kinds,

is the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ.

And so as we take a look here

at this difficult passage,

and my goal here this morning is simple,

is to help us see from these two ugly passages

the power of the grace of God.

And what we'll see as we look through this together

is two works of God's grace.

This will be our outline this morning.

If you're taking notes,

we'll see two works of God's grace.

One, God works grace from the wreckage of sin.

And two, God works grace for the war with sin.

First, let's take a look at chapter 38,

and we see here,

God works grace from the wreckage of sin.

And what I want you to notice here

as we work our way through this chapter

is the increasing wickedness of the people.

The increasing spiral downward into sin and wickedness.

And this has been the trajectory ever since the Garden of Eden,

Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Mankind has multiplied,

and with it, sin has multiplied on the earth.

We're coming out of a story of great wickedness.

Joseph is just sold into slavery.

He was betrayed by his own brothers.

He's now in Egypt.

But that spiral, it doesn't stop there.

We get a little detour here,

and we visit Judah, one of the brothers.

Look there to verse 1, chapter 38.

It says,

Judah, one of Joseph's brothers,

he goes to Hira,

and he sees the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua.

And what does he do?

He takes her.

He is intimate with her.

She conceives.

She bears a son.

She names him Air.

And then again, she bears a son and names him Onan.

And again, she bears a son and names him Shelah.

This is the first offense here in the passage.

Judah is taking wives from the Canaanites.

And haven't we already seen?

That's a recipe for disaster.

Hasn't Esau already shown us

that that's a no-go here for the people of God?

But also just notice here the graphic way

that it describes how Judah goes about this.

He is taking what his flesh desires.

He's operating based on what the desires of his flesh are.

This is the same pattern that we've seen ever since the garden.

See, good, take.

See, good, take.

And that's how the sinful flesh operates.

You see and you take whatever it is that you want

and then you figure out the rest later.

But it gets worse.

Fast forward some years later.

Now, Air, his oldest son, is old enough to marry.

And verse 6, it says,

Judah takes a wife for Air.

Her name was Tamar.

But verse 7, it says,

Air, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord.

And the Lord put him to death.

Now, what in the world was he up to?

Now, we're not told.

We don't know exactly what Air was up to.

But apparently, his wickedness was so great

that the Lord puts a stop to it right then and there.

And he puts him to death.

But it continues to spiral and get worse.

Verse 8,

Judah tells his second son, Onan,

to go and perform the duty of a brother-in-law

and raise up offspring for his brother.

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his.

And so you can read the text.

Do you see what happens?

He refused to do what his father told him to do.

And verse 10 says,

What he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord.

And he put him to death also.

This is now two kids.

Struck down, put to death by the hand of the Lord

because of their wickedness.

And I wonder, are we surprised by this?

One of the kids came in to the grow class just a little bit ago

and they asked this question about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.

If I lie, will I die?

If we're shocked by this sort of immediate judgment of the Lord,

I think one reason might be

maybe we've lost our sense of the seriousness of sin.

Maybe we've lost our sense of the holiness of our God.

Maybe we've grown so accustomed to the patience of God

that God's judgment and His wrath is what seems out of place.

But isn't this what God told Adam and Eve would be the consequence of their sin?

And the day you eat of it, you will surely, what?

You will die.

And doesn't Romans 6.23 say the wages of sin is what?

Is death.

Well, the fact is God takes sin infinitely more seriously than we do.

And the hard, unpopular truth is that, yes, we deserve death for our sin.

Will you die if you tell a lie?

I'm not sure.

But do you deserve to die?

Yes, you do.

We are guilty, all of us, every one of us,

are guilty of sin against a holy God.

We deserve hell for our sin.

And the only reason you are not there right now

is either because God has been gracious to you

in saving you and redeeming you in Christ,

or He is being patient with you

in delaying that judgment that we deserve

so that you might, by His grace, repent of your sin.

Now, we're often surprised by the judgments of God,

but the truth is we ought to be much more surprised

by the patience of God towards sinners like us.

And it still gets even worse.

The spiral continues.

Look to verse 11.

Judah was afraid that his youngest son, Shelah,

would grow up and die just like his brothers.

Seems like a valid concern at this point.

And so he tells Tamar to go back to her father's house

and wait until he grows up.

This is his last offspring.

This is one last chance to keep the family line going.

But look what happened starting in verse 12.

It says,

In the course of time, Judah's wife dies.

And so he goes up to Timnah with his buddy, Hira.

And when Tamar hears about it, she hatches a plan.

Look what she does.

And she takes off her widow's garments

and she covers herself with a veil.

No one can tell that it's her.

She sits at the entrance to a name on the road to Timnah.

And when Judah sees her,

she looks good to him.

And he goes and he wants to take what his flesh desires.

And so what does he do?

He goes and to put it politely,

he asks for some of her time.

And in response,

she says,

Well, what will you give to me?

He says,

I'll bring you a young goat from the flock.

But she says,

Well, if you give me a pledge,

you give me your signet

and give me your cord

and give me your staff

and then I'll take that as a guarantee,

a sort of down payment

that you're going to be acting good on your word.

And so he does.

Verse 18 says,

She conceived by him.

And now this messed up family

has just got even worse, hasn't it?

You have two sons dead because of their sin.

You have one son that's still single.

He's waiting on his dad to step up

and provide a wife for him.

You have one daughter-in-law

that's waiting on dad to keep his word.

And meanwhile,

dad just got the daughter-in-law pregnant

and doesn't even know him.

This is more dramatic

than any soap opera

you're going to find on TV.

Now, don't you love

how realistic the Bible is

in presenting the sin

and the mess of the world?

And when Judah does wind up

sending the goat

to pay what he thinks is the prostitute,

no one can find her.

She's not there.

And so Judah, verse 23,

says he just decides

to cut his losses.

He doesn't want to be embarrassed.

Just let her keep the stuff

and we'll just all move on, right?

Fast forward three months later

and now we have a problem.

About three months later,

Judah was told,

Tamar, your daughter-in-law,

has been immoral.

Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.

There's no hiding it at this point.

And all of a sudden,

all of his hidden secret sin

is all about to come out.

It says Judah is angry.

And his daughter-in-law

has done this unspeakable thing.

He recognizes that this is a great sin.

His daughter-in-law has been intimate

with someone outside

of God's ordained bounds of marriage.

And moreover, she's pregnant.

She's going to bring shame

on the whole family.

And so in what he thinks

is righteous anger,

he orders for her to be brought out

and burned.

He is about to judge her

for her wickedness.

But look what happens.

As she's being brought out,

she sends word to her father-in-law

and says,

By the man to whom these belong,

I am pregnant.

And what does she do?

She holds out the signet.

And she holds out the cord.

And she holds out the staff.

And she says,

Tell me who these belong to.

And Judah identifies them and says,

Surely she is more righteous than I am.

Because I did not give to her my son,

Sheila.

And he did not know her again.

You see, his sin found him out.

The bill eventually came due.

And church, it always does.

Sin has made a mess of this family,

hasn't it?

It is clear.

Even many years later,

after the Garden of Eden,

sin's curse still remains.

Sin's power still remains.

Sin's presence is there,

corrupting everything it touches.

Sin's consequences still remain.

It is wrecking this family.

And you look at this story,

and you just think,

Man, this all just seems so dark,

doesn't it?

But we should be reminded that

even in this darkness, church,

God's promise still remains.

Hasn't God promised blessing in place of curse?

Hasn't God promised all the way back in the garden

that He will send one

who's going to crush the serpent

and make all things right again?

And it's in moments like this

that make you ask,

Well, God, when are you going to do it?

Can't you come and act?

How are you going to do this?

This looks so bleak.

I mean, your own people

are no different than the world around them.

What hope is there?

What good could God possibly work

out of a mess like this?

Look there to verse 27.

The unfathomable mystery here

in this chapter

is that our God

has worked redemption.

Out of this mess.

Why is this story here?

Don't you wonder?

We're here in Joseph's story

and we take this little rabbit trail here

to just put Judah's sin

out in the forefront

and talk about him.

Why is this story here?

It's here to show us

where our Savior came from.

Look there to verse 27.

It says,

When the time of her labor came,

there were twins in her womb.

And when she was in labor,

one put out a hand.

The midwife takes it

and ties a scarlet thread

on his hand

and says,

This one came out first.

But he comes back

and his brother comes out

and they name him Perez.

And afterward,

the one with the scarlet thread

comes out

and they name him Zerah.

What is the point?

If you flip ahead

to Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

and I think you'll see it.

You know,

so often we just skip past

these genealogies

and I don't blame you.

There's a lot of names.

A lot of them are strange.

But pay attention

to what Matthew shows us

here in Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

He says,

This is the book

of the genealogy

of Jesus Christ.

The son of David.

The son of Abraham.

Why is he naming those figures?

He is anchoring

the promises

that God made to David.

The promises

that God made to Abraham.

And he's saying

this Jesus

is the heir

of all the promises

of God.

And then he traces

the family tree.

He says,

Abraham,

he was the father of Isaac.

Isaac was the father

of Jacob.

Jacob,

the father of Judah

and his brothers.

Judah,

the father of Perez

and Zerah

by Tamar.

And Perez,

the father of Hezron.

Hezron,

the father of Ram.

Ram,

the father of Aminadab.

On and on it goes

down to David,

the king.

And then from there

all the way from David

all the way to Jesus Christ.

Do you see what God has done?

Out of this incredibly ugly mess of sin

and brokenness

from this act of sexual immorality

and foolishness,

what has God done?

God has brought about

the birth of the Savior of sinners.

Out of the wreckage of sin

God has worked redemption

for sinners.

What man meant for evil,

God meant for good.

Jesus Christ is a descendant of Judah

from Tamar.

You see,

our Lord was born

into a line of sin.

Jesus came right into the experience

of our wicked world

yet without sin.

You see,

Jesus stepped right

into our mess.

No other religion

talks about their God

this way,

by the way.

Do you realize that?

No other religion

talks about their God

like this.

Every other religion

tells you to

clean yourself up,

make yourself better,

improve yourself

so that you might

inch your way

closer to God,

that you might

climb the ladder

and make your way

to God.

The good people

make it up top,

right?

That's how most world religions work.

Not the gospel of God's grace.

Undeserved blessing

to a sinful world.

Unmerited favor

to a sinful people.

Jesus comes from a long line

of messed up sinful people

just like us.

And when he came,

what did he do?

He went straight to the messed up

and straight to the broken

and straight to the sinners

and the tax collectors.

He ate and drank

with sinners

and he told everyone else,

don't you understand?

The healthy don't need

a physician.

The sick need a physician.

I came to save sinners.

This is grace

at work, Christian.

When we see the gross immorality

of the world

in which we live,

we see the way

that our culture

embraces all sorts

of wickedness

and when it seems dark

and bleak

and you just wonder

what in the world

can we do?

We should remember

our God

has already provided

the answer.

It's the gospel

of his grace

in Jesus Christ.

This passage is here

to show us

how God works grace

out of the wreckage

of sin

but that's not all.

Second,

we should also see

that God gives grace

for the war

with sin.

Here we look

to chapter 39

and now the attention

is shifting back

to Joseph.

We're veering back

on course here.

Look there

to chapter 39.

He reminds us

Joseph had been

brought down

to Egypt

and Potiphar

an officer of Pharaoh

the captain of the guard

he bought him

from the Ishmaelites

and he put him

in charge of everything.

Verse 2 says

the Lord was with Joseph

and even there

in captivity

he became

a successful man

and he was

in the house

of his Egyptian master.

Even in Egypt

the Lord is blessing

and prospering Joseph.

It says his master

sees that the Lord

was with him

and he understands

that the Lord

is causing all

that he does

to succeed

in his hands.

So Joseph

found favor

in his sight

and attended him

and he made him

overseer of his house.

He put him in charge

of all that he had

and the Lord

blessed the Egyptians

house for Joseph's sake.

You see

already through Joseph

God is already

making himself

known in Egypt.

You see how the nations

are already

getting a taste

of who this God is

and how he works

through his people.

We're already

seeing the blessing

of God

to the nations

through the people

of God.

It's all coming

to pass

but there's a problem

here.

It says Joseph

was handsome

in form

and appearance.

I've never really

had that problem.

Maybe you have.

But the reason

why that's a problem

is because Joseph

is living again

right here in the middle

of this sexually

confused

sinful

flesh driven

world

where people

act on their impulses

and ask questions

later.

So verse 7

it says that

after a time

his master's wife

cast her eyes

on Joseph

and invites him

to lie

with her.

Think about this

with me for a minute.

In theory

the setup

seems pretty simple

doesn't it?

She probably knew

the best times

to come and to go

and she knew

when that opportunity

would be right.

She knew

when her husband

would probably

have no idea

what was going on.

Potiphar

trusts him.

He has

no reason

to suspect

that Joseph

would be up

to anything

with his wife.

If Joseph

wanted to do this

he could do it.

The opportunity

is right there

in front of him

and he has a decision

to make

doesn't he?

Verse 8

look what he does.

Verse 8

says

he refused

and he says

listen

my master

trusts me.

He's put

everything

that he has

in my charge.

He's not

greater in his

own house

than I am

and in fact

the only thing

that he's kept

back from me

is you.

And look

what he says

he says

how then

can I do

this great

wickedness

and sin

against

God?

Joseph

in contrast

to Judah

is aware

of sin's

dangers

right away.

Right away

the temptation

comes

right away

he says

no

and why?

It's because

he's seeing

things rightly.

He's not acting

on impulse

he's not acting

on the desires

of his flesh

like Judah

he sees

the danger

here

that this

is a sin

against my

neighbor

my master

how could

I wrong

him

and more

importantly

than that

he sees

this ultimately

as a great

sin

against

the Lord.

As she spoke

to Joseph

day

after day

after day

he would not

listen to her

to lie beside her

or even

to be with

her.

She continues

to present him

with the opportunity

to sin

day

after day

after day

after day

but day

after day

after day

he does not

even listen

to her.

He won't

lie beside her

he will not

even be

with her

he gives

her no

opportunity

whatsoever

for her

to prevail

in her

temptations

to sin

against his

master

and ultimately

against the

Lord.

See this

persistent

temptation

is met

with

persistent

resistance

and I

wonder

church

do we

fight

temptation

like this?

Do you

flee

from temptation

like Joseph?

Or do you

follow

after the

desires

of your

flesh

like

Judah?

John

Owen

in his

work

overcoming

sin

and

temptation

which by

the way

if you

have

the time

that is

a worthy

read

overcoming

sin

and

temptation

he says

sin is

always

acting

always

conceiving

always

seducing

always

tempting

don't you

find that

to be

true?

Or

y'all just

more sanctified

than I am

maybe you

are

sin

never

lets

up

it

is

always

acting

and

it's

not

just

external

pressures

although

those

are

all

over

the

place

it

is

inside

of

us

we

wrestle

with

the

indwelling

sin

of our

own

hearts

and so

Owen

goes

on

he

says

when

we

realize

a

constant

enemy

of

the

soul

abides

within

us

what

diligence

and

watchfulness

we

should

have

how

woeful

is

the

sloth

and

negligence

then

of

so

many

who

live

blind

and

asleep

to

this

reality

of

sin

there

is

an

exceeding

efficacy

and

power

in

the

indwelling

sin

of

believers

for

it

constantly

inclines

itself

towards

evil

we

need

to

be

awake

then

if

our

hearts

would

know

the

ways

of

God

our

enemy

is

not

only

upon

us

as

it

was

with

Samson

but

it

is

also

within

us

church

we

have

to

constantly

be on

guard

against

the

temptations

of

the

enemy

yes

and

also

the

weakness

of

our

own

flesh

but

the

fact

is

none

of us

are

strong

enough

to

do

this

none

of us

are

strong

enough

to

resist

the

temptations

of

the

enemy

day

after

day

after

day

after

day

we

are

not

strong

enough

to

fight

against

all

that

the

world

and

the

flesh

and

the

devil

would

throw

at

us

if

you

go

into

this

battle

in

your

own

strength

you

will

fail

what

then

is

our

hope

again

it

is

not

try

harder

it

is

not

be

better

it

is

not

ten

steps

to

a

better

you

it

is

the

grace

of

God

at

work

for

those

who

believe

the

gospel

teaches

us

that

our

God

gives

grace

for

the

war

with

sin

this

is

what

the

gospel

has

purchased

for

all

who

believe

in

Christ

you

realize

that

when

you

put

your

faith

in

Christ

church

you

become

a

new

creation

and

a

new

creation

who

is

now

set

free

from

the

power

of

sin

over

you

so

yes

temptation

will

come

and

yes

indwelling

sin

remains

but

in

Christ

you

now

have

new

resurrection

power

by

his

grace

to

wage

war

against

sin

that's

power

you've

never

had

before

that's

new

spiritual

life

that you've

never

had

before

you

were

dead

in the

trespasses

and sins

in which

you once

walked

but

God

has

made

you

alive

together

with

Christ

you

have

the

power

of

his

spirit

in

you

it

is

God

who

works

in

you

to

will

and

to

work

for

his

good

pleasure

so

now

in

Christ

and

only

in

Christ

we

can

go

to

war

with

sin

and

temptation

knowing

that

our

God

by

his

grace

is

fighting

for

us

first

first

Corinthians

10

tells

us

no

temptation

has

overtaken

you

that

is

not

common

to

man

God

is

faithful

and

he

will

not

let

you

be

tempted

beyond

your

ability

but

with

the

temptation

he

will

also

provide

the

way

of

escape

but

we

should

also

know

church

that

if

we

do

by

his

grace

flee

from

temptation

as

Joseph

does

here

then

it

may

also

come

with

a

cost

look

there

to

verse

11

says

one

day

he

went

to

the

house

to

do

some

work

and

none

of

the

men

of

the

house

were

there

so

the

wife

catches

him

by

the

garment

and

again

says

lie

with

me

but

he

flees

away

and

he

leaves

his

garment

in

her

hand

he

fled

out

of

the

house

and

so

what

does

she

do

she

fabricates

this

lie

to

tell

all

the

men

of

the

house

to

tell

her

husband

that

this

Hebrew

has

come

in

here

to

laugh

at

me

and

humiliate

me

he's

trying

to

seduce

me

and

we

see

the

picture

here

this

is

all

a

lie

isn't

it

she

has

completely

made

up

this

story

and

now

once

again

this

is

the

second

time

now

Joseph

is

a

victim

of

a

great

injustice

and

the

master

hears

about

it

and

what

does

he

do

not

surprisingly

he

takes

him

and

he

throws

that

man

into

jail

Joseph's

there

in

prison

but

even

so

look

there

even

there

in

prison

it

says

the

Lord

was

with

Joseph

and

the

Lord

showed

him

steadfast

love

and

we're

right

back

to

where

we

started

aren't

we

the

Lord

his

presence

is

there

with

Joseph

and

even

in

prison

now

he's

causing

him

to

prosper

and

to

succeed

why

because

the

Lord

was

with

him

after

all

of

that

Joseph's

location

has

changed

his

circumstances

has

changed

but

look

what

hasn't

changed

the

Lord

was

with

him

and

the

Lord

prospered

him

four

times

in

this

chapter

that

phrase

keeps

coming

up

do

you

see

that

the

Lord

was

with

him

the

Lord

was

with

him

the

Lord

was

with

him

the

Lord

was

with

him

and

for

Joseph

the

Lord's

presence

with

him

is

worth

far

more

than

the

fleeting

pleasures

of

sin

and

I'm

certain

that

it's

the

Lord's

presence

with

him

that's

strengthened

him

to fight

the

temptation

to

sin

church

is

this

true

for

you

Christian

do you

realize

that you

have

the

same

presence

of

the

Lord

with

you

and when

the

enemy

would

tempt

you

to

sin

do you

remember

the

Lord

is

with

you

and when

you

suffer the

consequences

of living

faithfully

for the

Lord

and in a

wicked world

do you

remember

that the

Lord

is

with

you

God's

grace

is at

work

here

out

of

the

wreckage

of

sin

to

bring

about

the

great

hope

for

the

sinful

world

and

church

this

is

truly

this

is

the

story

of

every

Christian

in

the

room

and

every

Christian

in

the

world

Jesus

has

stepped

in

and

rescued

you

out

of

your

mess

out

of

the

wreckage

of

your

own

sin

God's

grace

has

burst

through

in

the

gospel

of

Christ

he's

taken

the

wrath

of

God

and

the

judgment

of

God

that

we

deserve

for

our

sin

he's

worked

unfathomable

grace

towards

you

who

believe

but

he

doesn't

stop

there

and

God's

grace

also

sustains

us

and

equips

us

for

the

battle

against

sin

you

are

not

alone

in

the

battle

you

see

Joseph

triumph

over