From Bad to Worse- Genesis 39

Morning kids, junior highers, high schoolers,

you guys are dismissed at this time. Otherwise,

let me invite you to open up in your Bibles with

me to John chapter 14. John chapter 14 is where

John 14 · chapter mention John 14 · chapter mention

we're starting out today, it's not where we're

ending. We'll be where we start. As you're turning

there, I just want to take a minute, if you are

visiting with us, if this is your first week

with us, we are glad you are here. At Cornerstone,

we are convicted that it is no accident that

you are here this morning, and we are really

excited for what God has for us today. I just

want to encourage you, you know, this passage

that we're going to be looking at today, actually

out of the book of Genesis, I think is really

applicable for us with maybe where our world

is right now. You know, some of us might be kind

of on top of the world thinking that life's going

great. Maybe you're here this morning and you're

struggling a little bit. You're mourning the

loss of life in Minneapolis or the shooting in

Evergreen. Maybe you're mourning with so many

today as we remember Charlie Kirk at his funeral

later today. And friends, sometimes the world

can feel like it gets worse and worse and worse.

And you have a bad Monday and then a bad Tuesday

and an even worse Wednesday and things start

to feel like they're spiraling a little bit out

of control. And in the middle of all of that,

when it feels like life is getting worse and

worse and worse or harder and harder and harder

or we're processing things and we feel like we

cannot keep up with everything that's going on,

we can begin to lose hope and get a little bit

frustrated. And I would encourage us that when

we look at the life of Joseph today in Genesis

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

chapter 39, we're going to see that Joseph wrestled

with some of those very same emotions, that his

life felt like it was spiraling out of control

faster and faster and faster. And so before we

look at Genesis 39, I want to give you three

reminders that we need to remember as we look

at that chapter. We're going to then stand and

read in a minute from John 14 because it reinforces

these three reminders. So here's what I want

you to hear this morning. First, No matter where

you are, how you feel, Jesus loves you. Please

know that. Above everything else in the world,

Jesus loves you. Secondly, I want you to hear

this. Jesus gave his life to redeem you or to

buy you back from sin. Jesus paid the price for

you. And third, Jesus is preparing a place for

you personally in heaven right now. Let me encourage

you to stand with me as we read John 14, 1 through

3 to begin our time together. This is the word

of God. Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe

in God, believe also in me. And my Father's house

are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have

told you that I'm going to prepare a place for

you? If I go away and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and take you to myself so that

where I am, you may be also. And verse 4 says

this, you know the way to where I am going. Let

me pray for us. Father God, thank you so much

just for this chance that we have to be gathered

here this morning, God. Lord, as we look at the

life of Joseph, help us never to forget, God,

that you love us, that you redeemed us, and that

you are preparing a place for us. God, as we

face trials and difficult times in life, Help

us to cling closely to you, Father. And God,

I ask right now that you would clear our minds

of any distractions, God. Still our hearts. Quiet

them in your presence, Father. Lord, I ask that

you just speak to us this morning, God. I pray

all of this in your name. Amen. You may be seated.

Well, like I alluded to, we are actually going

through the book of Genesis. If you want to flip

back to Genesis chapter 39 with me, that's where

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

we'll actually be this morning, is Genesis 39.

But I think it's important that we start off

by seeing that the very reminder that Joseph

needs in Genesis 39, the very lesson that Genesis

39 teaches us, is also a New Testament lesson.

That God is never going to leave you. God is

never going to forget you. God will always forgive

you. It's not those words wrong. But I want to

encourage you with something else this morning.

Our main point as we look at Joseph's life is

this. Obedience to God isn't about convenience.

Obedience to God isn't about convenience. It

can be really tempting for us, I think sometimes

at least for me personally, to start thinking,

well, if it's convenient to follow God, then

that's what I'll do. If it's convenient to care

about that neighbor, that's what I'll do. If

it's convenient to live this way, that's what

I'll do. But what Genesis 39 shows us is really

twofold. One, that God will never leave us. But

secondly, that obedience to God is not about

convenience. Because I can promise you this,

it was not convenient for Joseph to obey God

as a slave. It was not convenient for Joseph

to refuse to worship the gods of his master.

It was not convenient for Joseph to worship God

while he was in prison. But obedience is not

about convenience. Obedience is not reliant on

it being convenient. Instead, we are called to

always be obedient to God. regardless of the

cost that might have. And I promise you this

morning, Cornerstone, there is a cost to being

obedient to God. When Jesus says, pick up your

cross and follow me, he isn't just saying, hey,

you're going to do some hard things in life.

Hey, don't do that thing that your friend's doing.

He's alluding to the fact that it is a sacrifice

to be obedient to God, that it is not convenient

at all to be obedient to God on a daily basis.

But it is what we are called to do. That's what

we're going to see in Genesis chapter 39. But

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

before we jump into chapter 39, let me just back

up to chapter 37 for a minute. In Genesis 37,

we see that Joseph's introduced to us. He has

a pair of dreams. His brothers absolutely despise

him for these dreams because he dreams that all

the brothers, all his older brothers, are bowing

down to him as though he is a king. And beyond

the dreams, we also see he's given this long

-sleeved robe, a garment that was only given

to kings or the extremely wealthy like his father.

But the expectation would have been that Jacob

would have given that cloak to Reuben, his firstborn

son. Or if not Reuben, because Reuben kind of

disgraced his father in many ways, maybe give

it to his second and thirdborn sons, who also

disgraced his father. So the expectation would

have been that he would have given it to Judah,

who at that point in time had not yet done something

to disgrace his father, although he soon would.

But he doesn't do any of that. Instead, Jacob

gives this robe to his 11th born son, Joseph,

the 17 -year -old. and his brothers despise him.

One thing leads to another. He has these dreams.

He obeys his father's instructions to go check

on the work that his brothers are doing, and

they decide they're going to kill him for who

he is. Finally, Judah talks some sense into them,

decides they won't kill him, and instead they

decide to sell him into slavery in Egypt. And

chapter 37 ends with Joseph being sold to Potiphar.

And then chapter 38, which we looked at last

week, kind of takes a step out of Joseph's life.

and instead focuses on the life of his brother

Judah, and we see how evil Judah honestly is.

We see the sin that Judah commits. But there's

actually something really interesting going on

here. See, Genesis 37 -36 and Genesis 39 -1 are

parallel verses. The writer Moses would have

been using this to bracket Genesis 38 to draw

our attention to the major theme throughout that

chapter, which is twofold, that God has released

us from shame, and secondly, that God has a bigger

plan than what we can see. And so Moses does

this, and now as Moses brings us back into Genesis

39, let me invite you to look at verses 1 through

6 with me. It says, now Joseph had been taken

to Egypt, and an Egyptian named Potiphar, an

officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards,

bought him from the Ishmaelites. who had brought

him there. Now, if you remember way back in about

Genesis 12 to 20, we see that Abraham has two

sons. First, he has Ishmael, who is the son of

his wife's slave, Hagar, and Ishmael grows up,

his descendants become the Ishmaelites, so there's

this weird family dynamic going on in verse 1,

but let's keep going with verse 2. The Lord was

with Joseph, and notice that also, those are

the four capital letter Lord, that means Yahweh.

God, the God that we are worshiping this morning,

was with Joseph, and he became a successful man

serving the household of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord, Yahweh, was

with him and that Yahweh made everything he did

successful, Joseph found favor with his master

and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also

put him in charge of his household and placed

all that he owned under his authority. From the

time that he put him in charge of his household

and of all that he owned, the Lord Yahweh blessed

the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. Yahweh's

blessing was on all that he owned in his house

and in his fields. He left all that he owned

under Joseph's authority. He did not concern

himself with anything except the food he ate.

Let's talk about that. When Joseph arrives in

Egypt, he's bought by a man named Potiphar, who

is the captain of Pharaoh's guard. Potiphar is

essentially the head of the secret service for

Egypt. He's extremely important. He's very popular,

very influential. If anyone in the entire nation

has Pharaoh's ear, it is Potiphar. But as influential

as he was, and he was already very successful,

things begin to grow even more and change even

more when Joseph enters his house because the

Lord God was with him. Joseph. I cannot stress

enough how important it is throughout Joseph's

life. Whenever we see those four capital letters,

LORD, you stop and understand that is the God

that we worship. That is Yahweh, our God. That

matters significantly because what's going on

in this chapter is not caused by an idol. This

is not the Egyptian god Ra causing this to happen.

This is not some pagan deity. This is God of

the universe who is with Joseph, creator of all

things in heaven and on earth. who sees Joseph,

a humble slave in Egypt, and cares about him

personally. And we see that as time goes on,

everything that Joseph does succeeds. Potiphar

grows in wealth, he becomes more and more wealthy

because of Joseph, and Joseph succeeds because

of God. And if I'm honest, at least, it can be

really easy for me to think that Joseph was all

alone when he went to Egypt, because that's how

it reads. His brothers sell him. He doesn't speak

the language. He just shows up in Egypt, and

who is with Joseph? But he wasn't all alone.

He wasn't all alone because God was still with

him. God was working to make Joseph successful

because God had a much larger plan in place than

what we see on the surface. On the surface, his

brothers had a plan. Sell Joseph into slavery,

and before we know it, our brother will be killed,

and it won't be our fault specifically. But God

has a much larger plan, something that Joseph

addresses in Genesis 50, verse 20. He looks at

Genesis 50:20

his brothers and tells them, you intended to

harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish

what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Friends, God has a much larger plan in place

in Genesis 39. And as Potiphar sees that everything

that Joseph is doing succeeds, Potiphar puts

Joseph over everything. He trusts him with everything

that he has, with his wealth, his reputation,

his influence, and as we'll see, even with his

own family. And in all of this, God blesses Joseph,

who in turn blesses Potiphar with his work. As

we see in verse 6, Potiphar has no worries except

what he eats. And to be very clear, this is not

talking about food insecurity. This is saying

that all that Potiphar has to worry about is

whether he wants chicken or fish that night,

steak or lamb. Those are the choices that Potiphar

is worried about. Nothing is on his mind as a

concern. He is carefree because of Joseph. And

so I actually want to stop and just make a point

of application to us here. Joseph is definitely

blessed by God. That's very explicitly clear

in the text. But that's not the only thing going

on here. We know this also from Genesis 37. Joseph

works hard. Let's be really clear on that. Joseph

works hard. We saw in Genesis 37 that he's a

man of integrity and that this continues in Egypt

as we'll continue to see. He works hard and God

blesses his hard work. And here's the application

part. It's easy for us sometimes to quote 1 Corinthians

10 31 or Colossians 3 23 over and over and say,

I'm going to do everything that I do to glorify

God. Whatever I'm doing, I'm going to do to glorify

God. I'm going to clean this toilet for the glory

of God. But let me challenge, we don't always

actually mean that. Sometimes it's easy for us

to say, I'm going to do everything to glorify

God, but our hearts actually say, I really don't

want to do this. So I'm going to do this halfway.

I'm not actually going to try my hardest. It's

kind of like the group project maybe you get

in school at some point where you know that you've

got three other really great partners. And so

you're like, I don't really have to work that

hard on this because they can pick up the slack.

I say that as though I was not always the one

having to pick up the slack. But it can be really

easy for us to almost start to slip into that

in our lives in any different area. Well, I'll

do 75 % of my best here. And God, just do with

that what you can. You know, I'm doing that to

glorify God. But friends, we shouldn't be 75

% worshiping the Lord Almighty. We should be

100 % worshiping God. And so I want to challenge

us this morning. Do we really mean when we say,

I will do everything to glorify God, do we really

mean that? Do we really mean that we will work

at whatever we are doing with all of our hearts

to glorify the Lord? Understand, Joseph is a

slave. When he's bought, he would have gotten

to do the absolute worst possible jobs. But yet

he still worked hard, and Potiphar was blessed

by his hard work. Joseph glorified God with his

work. Whether it was managing financials for

Potiphar, taking care of the livestock, Joseph

glorified God with his work. And friends, we

need to understand this. If God is with us always,

and we know God is with us always, then God is

with us when we are working also. Remember that.

God is with Joseph even in this really hard season.

He's going to use this hard season to get it

so much worse. and Joseph's life for something

so much greater. Consider even the lesson we

learned last week with Tamar. God is with us

always, but that doesn't mean that everything's

always easy. So keep that in mind as we look

at Genesis 39, and let me challenge you to just

think about that this week. Are we actually doing

everything that we do? Are we actually working

for God's glory, or are we just saying that because

that's what we heard at church? Look at verses

kind of last half of 6 through 10 with me. So

moving to the last part of verse 6 through verse

10, we're going to see that Joseph's matured

and something really, really bad is about to

happen in his life. Verse 6 says this, once again

it says, he left all that he owned under Joseph's

authority. He did not concern himself with anything

except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well built

and handsome and he is strong. And after some

time his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph

and said, sleep with me. But he refused. Look,

he said to his master's wife, with me here, my

master does not concern himself with anything

in his house. He's put all that he owns under

my authority. No one in this house is greater

than I am. He's withheld nothing from me except

you because you are his wife. So how could I

do this immense evil and how could I sin against

God? Although she spoke to Joseph day after day,

he refused to go to bed with her. So what do

we see at Joseph? Well, we see that Joseph is

strong, he's handsome, he's good -looking, he's

been in Egypt for a little bit, and Potiphar's

wife makes a decision. She wants to have an affair

with Joseph. Let's be really blunt about this.

She wants to take advantage of Joseph. In her

mind, there's no way he can say no. After all,

he's a slave. She can do whatever she wants to.

But look at his response. Joseph says no. He

doesn't say, you know, actually, you're right.

I built all this wealth for Potiphar. Everything

that Potiphar has has become greater because

of me. I deserve this. No. Instead he says, how

could I sin against God? Not just how could I

sin against Potiphar, how could I be mean to

Potiphar, how could I do that? He says, how could

I sin against God? Again, we see that Joseph

is a man of character and integrity. He chooses

to obey God rather than chasing what might be

nice in the short term. But I'd actually go one

step further. See, last week we saw Judah make

decisions that positioned him to walk away from

God. He left God, he left his family, he decided

to do things his own way. I didn't make a big

deal out of this last week, but when Judah slept

with what he thought was a shrine prostitute,

what he was trying to do there was actually worshiping

an idol. That was how they would worship their

pagan idols, was through that type of situation.

It shows us actually when he does this with Tamar

that Judah is worshiping gods other than God.

Judah made decisions that directly led him away

from God. But Joseph, Joseph is different. He

was dragged away from his family, away from his

support system. He has every reason on earth

to say, God, where are you? I don't know about

you, but if it was me in that situation where

I'm sold into slavery by my brothers, I mean,

I would have to have brothers, but if I found

myself in that spot, I think I'd probably be

wondering, God, where have you been in all of

this? God, what did I do that was so wrong to

deserve this? Like, God, all I've tried to do

is listen to my dad and listen to you, and I

told my brothers about the dreams that I had

that are from you. What did I do wrong here?

But Joseph doesn't do that. Joseph holds God

close, and he continues to obey God. His life

was different than the people around him. His

work was different. He worked harder. He honored

Potiphar. And we see that the way that Joseph

responds to sin is different. He doesn't say,

well, yeah, this would make me feel good. No,

let's go back to what he says. Look back at that

with me. How could I do this immense evil and

how could I sin against God? So who is Joseph

following while he's in Egypt? He's following

God. And friends, let this be an encouragement

to you. I know sometimes it can be like, well,

I don't have as much time as I want to have.

I don't have the conveniences I want to have.

You know, I don't have the perfect fellowship

right now. I don't have the perfect community.

It's just, it's a really hard season. I just,

I can't follow God as well as I want to. Let's

just take that head on. Joseph doesn't have a

Bible. Joseph doesn't have worship on Sunday

morning. Joseph doesn't have a church. Joseph

doesn't have another Christian. Joseph doesn't

have any of those things. But yet Joseph still

follows God. He continues to obey God. See that

when he talks like, how can I sin against God?

And understand this is not just a one -time thing.

This temptation comes day after day after day.

Potiphar's wife wants this to happen badly. In

fact, actually some extra biblical sources, we

actually see other parts added into this. And

it goes so far as to suggest that Potiphar's

wife throws parties with her friends just so

they can all look at Joseph and tell her how

attractive he is. Potiphar's wife really wants

this to happen. And day after day after day,

she tries to wear Joseph down. And if we're honest,

it can be kind of easy for us to avoid sin that

first time that we're tempted. And let me be

really clear on this. Being tempted is not a

sin. Being tempted is part of living in a sinful,

fallen world, but giving in to temptation, that

is where we sin. So yeah, for Joseph, that first

time, he's able to say, hey, why would I sin

against God in this? But what about that second

time, she asks him? What about that third time?

For us, what about that second time we're tempted?

What about that third time we're tempted? We

want to do something really selfish. We're done

listening to our spouse for the day. We want

it to be about us, and we're just tired. It's

easy that first time, you're like, nope. Let

me stop and listen. What about that second time,

that third time? What about that fourth time?

What about the Friday of that really hard week

when all you want to do is just have no contact

with anybody else? And then your kid or your

friend calls you. One of my hardest memories

from college, I'd gone home for a week and I

was driving back into Laramie, made a plan to

go over to my girlfriend's house at the time.

And so I was driving into Laramie, and she lived

right next to where I was coming to town at.

I was about to turn to her apartment complex,

and I got a call from a freshman I knew on campus.

And he called me, and he said, hey, one of my

friends committed suicide, like, yesterday. He

goes, I don't really know a whole lot of people

yet. This is, like, the third week of college,

right? He doesn't know that many people. And

he goes, but I know you, and I'd really like

to, like, talk about this. And just, like, I'm

really struggling. I'm not okay. And in that

moment, I'm faced with this decision, right?

Selfishly, what I want to do is just go be with

my friends, turn my brain off, go sit there,

watch Sunday Night Football, and just pretend

that nothing else in the world exists, right?

Just go yell at the TV about how terrible the

Broncos are and laugh at Trevor Simeon as our

starting quarterback. Now, I know in my heart

of hearts as he's calling me and on the phone

with me, what I should say is, yeah, man. listen,

I'll be at my apartment in like 30 minutes. Come

over then. You know, I can balance this. I can

still go by my girlfriend's for a few minutes

and say hi, and I can go to my apartment. I can

be there for him. And then that second part of

temptation comes up. It's like, well, yeah, when

do you want to talk about it? And he goes like,

well, like right now. Like, I'm really not okay.

I feel that temptation a second time. And then

a third time. And clearly, because I'm a pastor,

I totally looked at him and was like, yeah, absolutely.

Oh, wait, that's not true at all. I said, okay,

I'm really sorry to hear that's going on. Yeah,

I'll be praying for you. Bye. And hung up the

phone on him. Friends, I'm not telling you that

the second or third time you're tempted is hard

because I don't have experience with this. I'm

able to say that because I know that. I know

how hard it is to continue to fight off that

selfish temptation to do things our way rather

than God's way. And so friends, the fact that

Joseph is able day after day after day after

day to resist this shows us something about Joseph.

Joseph is mature in his walk with God. He has

been justified by God. He's been declared righteous

before God, but he's also been sanctified. He

is continuing to grow. See, sanctification or

the act of being sanctified literally means our

gradual growing righteousness, or simply put,

becoming more like Jesus. And Joseph is growing

to be more like Jesus. He's relying on the Holy

Spirit day after day after day. He's relying

on God day after day after day. And even though

he can't be in a church, he can't be gathered

with God's people, the Israelites, even though

none of that's going on, he's growing closer

to God. And so day after day after day, this

temptation comes. But day after day after day,

Joseph refuses. But even as he says no, she doesn't

quit. Look at verses 11 through 15 with me. It

says, now one day Joseph went into the house

to do his work, and none of the household servants

were there. She, Potiphar's wife, grabbed him

by his garment and said, sleep with me. But leaving

his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

When she saw that he left his garment with her

and had run outside, she called her household

servants, saying, look, she said to them, my

husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of

us. He came to me so he could sleep with me,

and I screamed as loud as I could. And when he

heard me screaming for help, he left his garment

beside me and ran outside. Okay, Potiphar's wife

does not give up quickly or easily, and she concocts

a plan. She's going to get Joseph by himself,

and she's going to force Joseph to do what she

wants. So one day she sees this perfect opportunity.

Only her and Joseph are in the house. No one

else is there. And so she grabs him and tells

him very bluntly to sleep with her, thinking

this is finally the solution. Let me be really

clear. This is an absolutely huge gamble. Let's

say Joseph says no and manages to talk to Potiphar

before she can and Potiphar believes him. She

will be executed. Full stop. It's a very small

likelihood this works out for. She commands Joseph

to do this and Joseph escapes and he runs outside

without his cloak, basically his outer garment.

Friends, that is how Joseph handles sin. Joseph

goes sprinting out of the house. He does everything

that he can to avoid her. And he's done the right

thing right here. That's how we need to respond

to sin. We need to run away from sin. Listen

to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 .18. He

says this, flee sexual morality. You can honestly

substitute in flee sin. Flee from sin. Let me

just bluntly ask you, if you are confronted with

sin that vividly, and I'm not just talking about

sexual sin. Would you run from sin or would you

run to sin? Because if we're honest, typically

our response is not what Joseph just did. Typically

our response is to kind of slowly back away from

sin. Say, okay, well, not right now, not right

now, not right now. Two days later, three days

later, we find ourselves doing the very thing

we don't want to do. But let me be clear, this

needs to be our response to sin, where we see

sin and we run straight away from it. I remember

being in an accountability group in college that

was made up of our campus ministry's guy leaders,

and we were talking about different ways to help

ourselves and our students in our Bible studies

avoid sexual temptation. How can you just avoid

it? How can we try to avoid it? And listen, it

did not hurt that we lived in Laramie, Wyoming,

and so by like September 3rd, it was like 26

degrees and snowing. but I vividly remember the

leader of this group looking at us and saying

this phrase, go nuclear. I was like, okay, that's

pretty intense. Like, all right, talk more about

that to me. And what he was saying was don't

get cute with sin. He said if your phone causes

you issues, get rid of your phone, get a different

phone that can't go on the internet or do whatever

you're struggling with, or put it in a different

room. If you use your laptop to sin, don't use

your laptop in private. And listen, that's what

Joseph does right here. He goes absolutely nuclear.

He just goes sprinting out of the house. He's

in the middle of working. Don't miss that. Joseph's

also the accountant for Potiphar. He's probably

sitting down there working on the books. Probably

something we should finish up before we move

on. This happens, and he just goes sprinting

out of there. He doesn't care at all. He sees

sin, he sees the trap, and he runs from it. And

as he goes nuclear, Potiphar's wife creates a

new plan. She's holding on to his outer cloak.

something he would never have taken off in the

house unless he was trying to sleep with her.

And she decides she's going to lie, so she calls

her household servants in to explain that Joseph

tried to sleep with her, and that she yelled

and that he ran away. Let's be clear. That's

not the case. It's a lie. Joseph didn't try to

rape Potiphar's wife. And let's also be clear,

that's what she just described. He tried to force

himself on her. This is someone else yet again

sinning against Joseph. It's happening again.

And for Joseph in this moment, as he's running

out of the house, it has to feel like his entire

world's crashing down. He's like kind of finally

made peace with the fact that, hey, he's doing

a good job for Potiphar. God's blessing him.

He's able to kind of do his own thing right now.

He's already stuck in Egypt because of his brother's

sin. He's already a slave. He's worked his way

up. And now Potiphar's wife is lying about him.

And again, Joseph's going to be hurt by other

people's lies. So look at verses 16 through 20,

we'll see where Potiphar's wife kind of lands

this at. It says this, she put Joseph's garment

beside her until his master came home, and then

she told him the same story. The Hebrew slave

you brought to us came to make a fool of me,

but when I screamed for help, he left his garment

beside me and he ran outside. And when his master

heard the story, his wife told him, these are

the things your slave did to me. Notice the tone

of that. It's not just like, oh, these are the

things that Joseph tried to do. It's like, these

are the things your slave tried to do to me.

He was furious and had him thrown into prison

where the king's prisoners were confined. So

Joseph was there in prison. So Potiphar's wife

sets the scene. She comes up with this idea.

She sets the lie up. She puts Joseph's cloak

next to her until her husband comes home, and

then she lies to him. Potiphar's furious. So

he's taking this accusatory tone. She tells this

huge lie. And in his anger, Potiphar acts and

doesn't stop to ask questions or to think, hey,

is all of this true? Rather than saying, listen,

I know Joseph. Joseph's done a great job. I trust

Joseph. This doesn't sound like Joseph. Instead,

he goes and immediately has Joseph thrown in

prison with the rest of Pharaoh's prisoners.

Now, let's be clear. It is understandable that

Potiphar is angry. That's a pretty normal response

to that situation. But that does not excuse what

Potiphar does. Please hear me this morning, Cornerstone.

You can be mad in life, and there are times where

it is okay to be mad. But that does not give

you a free pass to take your anger out on everyone

else. Jesus gets mad in the temple, and he flips

tables. But Jesus doesn't sin. See, the actual

feeling of anger and being upset is not sinful,

but what we do with our anger can be. And here

again, Joseph is sinned against. Not only has

he lied about, now Potiphar takes all of his

anger out on Joseph and throws him in prison.

Let's look at where Joseph's at now. He's gone

from being the favorite son of a wealthy father,

given this long -sleeved robe like a cloak, to

now being stuck in an Egyptian prison, which

is actually more of a pit in the ground. where

he's actually bound in chains. See, Psalm 105,

18 gives us a little more information about Joseph's

time in prison. This is what it says. It says,

they hurt his feet with shackles. His neck was

put in an iron collar. This prison stay was absolutely

miserable. It is. I think sometimes, maybe just

because of how we've seen like Joseph in the

Technicolor Dreamcoat done on stage, we think

Joseph's in prison, but he's kind of like wandering

around free, just like, hey, prison's not great,

but it's not the worst thing ever. Joseph's feet

are bound together in shackles, his neck's put

in an iron collar. Day after day, that's what

he wakes up to, sleeping on a cold floor in a

pit. This prison stay is awful, it's miserable.

And yet again, he's suffering, not because of

something he's done, but because of somebody

else's sin. So how does Joseph respond to all

of this? Look at verses 21 through 23 with me.

But Yahweh was with Joseph and extended kindness

to him. He granted him favor with the prison

warden and the warden put all of the prisoners

who were in prison under Joseph's authority and

he was responsible for everything that was done

there. The warden did not bother with anything

under Joseph's authority because Yahweh was with

him and Yahweh made everything that he did successful.

So how does Joseph respond to prison? Does he

just throw in the towel and quit, give up on

life? No. No, he again works hard. He does the

things he's given. And again, we see that God

protects him and God provides for him. I know

that sounds really weird to say when we just

established that Joseph's in chains and in these

shackles and this iron collar and he's stuck

in a pit of a prison. But God is providing for

him. Remember, God's provision does not mean

everything is always comfortable. It's a huge

fallacy that we can have. But Joseph rises up

through God's provision and position and he ends

up actually being entrusted with the responsibility

of running the prison. Friends, what a testimony

to the way that Joseph lives and how his life

glorifies God. That Joseph, a prisoner, is running

the prison. Listen, God is with Joseph, but Joseph

also lives differently. I want to make sure we

hear that this morning. Joseph's life doesn't

call us to a passive faith where we just float

through life and say, well, I got saved when

I was six. I'm good for life. It calls us to

actively live out our faith. in Jesus. It calls

us to be obedient when it is inconvenient. It

calls us to live differently than the people

around us. And through it all, even when it's

not comfortable, God will provide. God's provision

means that we are provided for. Joseph is provided

for even though his life isn't comfortable. But

I will also give you this as a reminder before

we come back together next week. God's provision

in the end will be better than Joseph ever could

have anticipated. When you're going through a

trial, when you're going through that hard season,

God's provision for you will be better than you

could anticipate. And I'm not saying, you know,

hey, I graduated college with $6 in my bank account,

but now I have a Lamborghini. I'm saying God's

provision will meet all of your needs at the

perfect time to bring God all of the glory. Let

me give you two points of application this morning.

First, we are called to run from sin. There's

two parts to this that I want to talk about.

But first, we are called to run from sin. There

are three things I mentioned at the start of

our service, that Jesus loves you, Jesus redeemed

you, and that Jesus is preparing a place for

you personally in heaven right now. Ephesians

1 .7 says this, in him, in Jesus, we have redemption

through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses

or our sins according to the riches of his grace.

You know, we've used this word sin a lot this

morning. Sin is anything that is not perfectly

holy and honoring to God. And every person on

earth is sin. That's what Romans 3 .23 tells

us. But God did not leave us in our sin. God

did not leave us in our brokenness and the hurt

that we experience because of sin. God sent Jesus

to earth. Jesus lived a perfect life without

any sin. He gave himself on the cross for our

sins, redeeming us by shedding his blood, the

fulfillment of every sacrifice ever. And he secured

for us the forgiveness of our trespasses according

to the riches of God's grace. Friends, please

hear this morning. Jesus loves you. Jesus loved

you before you loved him. That's what Romans

5 .8 says. But God demonstrates his own love

for us in this. While we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Jesus loves you. Secondly,

Jesus redeemed you. You'll notice that's a past

tense word I just used. It's completed. It's

finished. Jesus has paid the price. He has made

a way for you to be bought back. He has redeemed

you. He redeemed you through the blood that he

shed on the cross, through the grace that he

has given us. And finally, Jesus is preparing

a place for you in heaven right now. So if you

are here today and you have not placed your faith

for salvation in Jesus, Jesus who spilled his

blood so that you can be saved, so that you can

be removed from all of your sin, then today can

I encourage you, let me plead with you to put

your faith in Jesus right now. Here's the second

part of our call to run from sin. We have to

run away from temptation. We need to be like

Joseph. We need to run. We need to not mess around

with sin, not tolerate it, not let it just kind

of cling around the edges of our lives. We should

be on a mission to kill sin every chance we get.

We need to run away from it. So how do we do

this? How do we fight back against sin? Well,

I've got four points I want to make on this.

First, we are called to run with the Spirit.

We need to run with the Spirit, the Spirit that

God has given us when we enter into a personal

relationship with Him. Galatians 5, 19 through

25 gives us this really beautiful contrast between

life with the flesh and life with the Spirit.

Let me read it for us. It says, Pretty sure we've

just heard all three of those today in this passage.

Idolatry. Yeah, we know that one's in there too.

Sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts

of anger. There's Potiphar. Selfish ambitions,

dissensions, factions, envy. If there wasn't

envy, Joseph wouldn't be in Egypt. Drunkenness,

carousing, and anything similar. I am warning

you about these things as I warned you before

that those who practice such things will not

inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of

the Spirit. What we should live out as we run

with the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self -control. The law is not against such

things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh with its passions and

desires. And it says this, if we live by the

Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Notice the contrast between the way that the

flesh tempts us to live and the way the Spirit

leads us to live. Live by the Spirit, like what

Paul says here. That could be a sermon for a

different Sunday, but run with the Spirit. Run

with the Spirit. Live by the Spirit. Live Galatians

5, 22 through 25, not Galatians 5, 19 through

21. Secondly, how do we run from sin? You don't

run alone. That's how you do it. I'm a terrible

runner. I'm awful at it. My wife loves running

and she's training for a half marathon right

now and one of the things she talks about is

how helpful it can be to have something like

Strava where she can share her runs and people

can see and kind of encourage there. It feels

like she's like running with other people as

she's training. As for me, it doesn't matter

if I run by myself or with other people. I just

don't like running. My point is this. Don't isolate

yourself from Christian community. If you're

going to run away from sin, don't isolate yourself

from community. We don't need to make our faith

harder than it is. It is hard, factually speaking,

to follow God because we are the minority of

people. It's not legalism, it's reality. In Champaign,

the most generous estimates say that 18 % of

people are Christians. We are the minority. It's

okay to say that. So don't run alone. Run together

with other Christians. Don't isolate yourself.

Hebrews 12 .1 is one of my favorite reminders

of this. It says this, Therefore, since we also

have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding

us, let us lay aside every hindrance in the sin

that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance

the race that lies before us. But what does it

all start with? Since we have such a large cloud

of witnesses surrounding us. Friends, do not

isolate yourself from Christian community. It

is different to get up on a Sunday morning and

say, I'm going to go to church now. That's absolutely

different. But do not isolate yourself from community.

Find a community group. Get involved. Find a

good Christian friend. Run through those hard

parts of life together. Be vulnerable and open

about your sin. And run away from it together.

Third, how do we run away from our sin? We change

what we're running to. So run for the new mission.

See, we have a new mission in this world. Listen

to what Paul says about his life in Acts chapter

Acts 20 · chapter mention

20. In Acts 20, Paul's addressing the Ephesian

church. It's the church he spent the longest

amount of time with. He loves the Ephesian church.

I don't want to say they're his favorite, because

like parents don't have favorite kids, but in

the sense that parents don't have favorite kids,

Paul doesn't have a favorite church. But if he

did, it would be the Ephesian church. And listen

to what he says as he's talking about his life

to them. This is how he defines his entire life.

I consider my life of no value to myself. My

purpose is to finish my course in the ministry

I received from the Lord Jesus. Here's his new

mission. To testify to the gospel of God's grace,

the good news of God's grace. Run for that same

new mission. Fight sin because you want to follow

God. Don't fight sin just to be better because

your pastor said so. Fight sin because you want

to follow God. Live differently because you're

called by Jesus and in turn run for the new mission.

Listen, we don't run for our glory, we run for

God's glory. That includes the way that we battle

sin and flee from sin. And practically, let me

give you a tip on this when it comes to running

for this new mission. Scripture memory is so

helpful for this. In that moment when you're

feeling tempted, being able to stop and remember

God's word is so powerful. Scripture memory isn't

just a thing for kids to do in something like

Awana. It's not just a thing for college students

doing their campus ministry. we should be memorizing

Scripture and meditating on it. So that when

we're tempted, when we face that, we have a place

to run to. And we can run to God. When we're

dealing with temptation, we can remember the

new mission that we're given by remembering Scripture.

So for instance, we could sit down and remember

maybe these verses that we're going through for

these four steps. So when temptation feels irresistible,

we can run to those verses instead of just trying

to fight it on our own. Here's the fourth part.

If you want to run away from sin, run the race

of life with your eyes on the prize. Run with

a new mission and then fix your eyes on the prize.

Like I said, I'm not much of a runner, but when

I was playing basketball, we would run lots of

suicides in practice, day after day after day.

And our coach would do a thing called 12 and

12, which was 12 suicides in 12 minutes that

would get faster and faster as we went. It's

as miserable as it sounds. And if anybody did

not finish one of these suicides, we'd have to

start back over at one. In three years, that

never happened. You know, you ran with your eyes

on the mission, the mission of being done with

this, but you also ran with your eyes on the

prize. Because the prize of being done with the

12 and 12 was always a shooting drill. It was

way more fun than having to run more suicides.

Let me encourage you in life, when you are fighting

sin, run the race of life with your eyes on the

prize. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Timothy

4, 7 -3. This is his final words, basically,

in the Bible. It says this, I have fought the

good fight. I have finished the race. I have

kept the faith. There is reserved for me the

crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous

judge, will give me on that day, and not only

to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

We have a new mission. We have a new end goal.

We want to testify to the gospel of God's grace,

and we also want to run with our eyes on the

prize. And what is the prize? The prize is simple.

The prize is the crown of righteousness. The

prize is eternity with our Savior in heaven.

So friends, let me encourage you, run from sin.

Run from sin. And when we're hurting, when we're

feeling low like Joseph was in Genesis 39, let

me encourage you with our second application

point. Run to true comfort. In all situations,

our true comfort is found in Jesus and only in

Jesus. I love the words of Psalm 34 just in general,

but especially verse 15. It says this, the eyes

of Yahweh are on the righteous, that is those

who follow him, and his ears are open to their

cry for help. Friends, our true comfort comes

from God, not from counseling, not from therapy,

not from time with friends. Those are all good.

but our true comfort comes from God. I want to

do this pretty quickly, but I want to encourage

you with something that I find really helpful

when I think about finding true comfort in God.

Psalms are a great place to go if we're feeling

low. I love the Psalms. There's one in particular

I think really speaks to me a lot when I'm feeling

low and feeling far from God or feel like I'm

in a difficult situation and need some comfort,

and that's Psalm 42. And there's a kind of a

structure to Psalm 42. I want us to very quickly

walk through. We will not read all of Psalm 42.

It's not very long. We won't read all of it.

But here are four steps for actually finding

your comfort in God, for actually running to

true comfort. First, focus on God. You're hurting.

You're feeling low. Stop and focus on God. This

is what Psalm 42 says. As a deer longs for flowing

streams, so I long for you, God. David is in

a low spot. The psalmist is in a low spot. He's

hurting. But he stops right away. before he gets

to that part about how he's hurting, he says,

listen, I long for you, God. Let me refocus myself.

I long for God. So step one, focus on God. Step

two, acknowledge that you're not okay. Psalm

42 .3 says this, my tears have been my food day

and night, while all day long people say to me,

where is your God? And then in verse four, he

goes on to talk about how he used to be in a

great place, how he used to feel close to God.

Friends, acknowledge that you're not okay. If

you're running to God for true comfort, it's

okay to acknowledge to our God, our great God

who loves us, that you're not okay. That's fine.

Step three, speak truth to yourself. Go back

to God's promises. Remember God's examples, like

what happens in Joseph's life. One of my favorite

quotes about depression and frustration and anxiety

comes from a guy named Martin Lloyd -Jones, who's

an English pastor, and he says this. So I say

that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing

ourselves to talk to us. He said that about Psalm

42, actually. What he's saying there is that

when we're feeling anxious or depressed or like

life's hard, we need to stop and speak truth

to ourselves. We need to stop and say, okay,

wait a second. What does God say about this?

What does God's Word say about this? Hey, I'm

feeling like life's hopeless. Well, when has

God been with somebody else and life seemed hopeless?

Well, man, Joseph's life was really hard. Instead

of just allowing ourselves to tell ourselves

over and over and over again, wow, life is terrible.

Life's awful. Life's hideous. I love what the

psalmist says here. At the very end of this section,

verse 8, he says, the Lord will send his faithful

love by day. His song will be with me in the

night, a prayer to the God of my life. He pours

out his heart and all the pain that he's dealing

with in the first eight verses, and he says,

listen, here is actual truth. Here is actually

what I need to remember. The Lord will send his

faithful love by day and his song will be with

me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

And here is the fourth and final part of running

to God in that. Respond to discomfort. We've

acknowledged that we're not okay. We focused

on God. We've spoken truth into the situation.

And then go one step further, respond to discomfort.

And what I mean by that is remind your heart

again and again about what God is going to do.

God will be faithful. In verses 9 and 10 in this

section, the psalmist yet again kind of cries

out saying, hey, listen, things are hard. It's

not going to get better immediately. My adversaries

are still taunting me. People are still making

fun of me. He says this, my adversaries taunt

me as if crushing my bones. Well, all day long

they say to me, where is your God? The psalmist

is acknowledging things don't just get better

overnight immediately. But then he says this,

Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you

in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I

will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

He responds to discomfort by focusing on the

praise or on praising God. I promise you this

morning, Cornerstone, Joseph may not have called

those things the same way that we did. He did

not have Psalm 42 to go to. But Joseph had to

do those same things. He had to focus on God

while he was hurting. He had to acknowledge that

he wasn't okay. I can only imagine Joseph sitting

there in prison the first night being like, what

did I do wrong to end up here? I literally didn't

do anything. He had to speak truth to himself

that God was still with him even in prison. You

know, it's just like earlier on in Genesis 39

we saw Joseph stop when Potiphar's wife's tempting

him and say, hey, I'm not going to sin against

God like that. He had to speak truth to himself

and then finally had to respond to his discomfort.

Friends, in Genesis 41, you see probably the

low point of Joseph's life, where he starts to

get discouraged, where he starts to wonder if

God's really going to do anything with this.

And it's right then that God moves. I share that

because I think sometimes we want so badly to

think that in our hardest parts, in our hardest

times, as we cry out to God, that just immediately

on our timeline, God will intervene. That's not

the case. But God does promise that he will be

with us always. That is a promise we can count

on. So let me encourage you. When you go through

a difficult time this week, because we will go

through a difficult time at some point this week,

remember those four steps and run to God. Run

to our true comfort. Let's pray. Father, God,

thank you so much for your word. God, thank you

so much for Genesis 39, God, and just for the

chance that we have. to stop for a little bit,

just to remember, God, everything that you're

doing. God, I ask that we would be quick, God,

to focus on you, God, that we would be quick,

quick to acknowledge when we're not okay. God,

that we would run to your word and that we would

speak your truth in our lives. And God, I ask

that you would help us to repeat that truth over

and over and over again, God. We would remember

that you are with us and that you are working

all things out, God, even if it's not on our

timeline. God, we are just so thankful for this

morning. We are so thankful for this example

of Joseph's life, God. God, I ask that you just

help us to run after you and to run away from

sin this week, God. In your name we pray, amen.

Please stand as we respond.