Tonight, I'd like to return with you to our consideration of the story of Joseph, found in Genesis. We turn to Genesis chapter 39. We'll read the chapter together, but our focus tonight, verses 1 through, well, the majority of verse 6. Genesis chapter 39. Genesis chapter 37, you may recall, closed with the announcement that Joseph had been sold by the Midianites and he was sold into Egypt to one of the officials of Pharaoh, whose name was Potiphar. And therefore Joseph began his new life in Egypt. We know that he lived there for about 22 years before his father Jacob and his family made the move to Egypt. And then chapter 38, we recall, gave some of the history during those 22 years, particularly the sad history of Judah and his family, but along with that, the wonderful news that God preserved the line leading to the Messiah even in the midst of that sad history regarding Judah. Now chapter 39 begins the way chapter 37 ended, and therefore, in a sense, chapter 39 rewinds. It rewinds those 22 years and begins to tell us what was going on in Joseph's life for all of those years. Now, as we think about all that God was doing during this particular portion of history, especially with Joseph, Joseph's story might seem to us somewhat like a rags-to-riches story. The rags part, including the hatred and the actions of his brothers toward him, as well as his duties as a slave. But then also the accusations against him and the sufferings that resulted from those accusations. And of course, then the riches part being simply his final promotion to be the highest official over all of Egypt. Highest, of course, except for one, that being Pharaoh. And as we think about Joseph, it might be good as well to ask ourselves, have I ever felt that I have been treated unfairly? and if so, how did I handle that? Or do I ever wonder whether living an upright life is really worth the effort? And I guess the answer to that depends on what you and I think is worth it, right? But as we think about the Joseph story, we must understand that the Lord prepares Egypt for Israel by preparing Joseph for Egypt. And that preparation, beloved, included roadblocks and potholes and detours and setbacks all along the path. He faced temptations at every single turn, of course, most notably with Potiphar's wife. But really, in all that he went to, even when he was sitting in that dry well, his faith was being tempted. Yet Joseph enjoyed the blessing above all blessings. The Lord was with Joseph. And it's clear that He knew that. Really, that's the overall theme, we might say, of Genesis chapter 39. That the Lord was with Joseph. He was with Joseph in prosperity. He was with Joseph in temptation. He was with Joseph in trouble. Now tonight, I want to consider with you in a particular way that the Lord was with Joseph in undeniable prosperity. Again, we read together the entire chapter, our focus being the first six verses. Hear now the word of the Lord. Genesis 39, beginning at verse 1. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered. And he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph's care everything he had. With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome. And after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, Come to bed with me. But he refused. With me in charge, he told her, My master does not concern himself with anything in the house. Everything he owns, he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, come to bed with me. But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants, look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story. That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. When his master heard the story, his wife told him, saying, This is how your slave treated me, he burned with anger. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph. and gave him success in whatever he did. Well, beloved, in Christ the Lord, we are reminded at the very beginning of Genesis 39 that the Lord did not take Joseph out of the trouble that his brothers had determined for him. He was now the property of Potiphar. He was no longer the exalted or the favored son of Jacob, as it were, but he was the property of another man. He was the property of Potiphar. Joseph was a slave. Yet God enabled Joseph to triumph in adversity. How? Because the Lord was with him. You see, we are reminded very vividly through Joseph that God has not promised His people an easy ride with no bumps or peruses or difficulties or disappointments or trials or temptations, but He has promised, as we know, as recorded in Isaiah chapter 43, He has promised that He is with them. And He gets them through the unpleasantries of life, to say it mildly. And this truth helps to put things into perspective for Joseph. In spite of all the setbacks that we know that he had already faced and that we also know he was about to face, God was on his side. You see, this was the most uncertain time in Joseph's life. His future hangs in the balance. He is alone in Egypt, separated from his family, from the protection of his father Jacob. No doubt he is somewhat vulnerable. He was only 17 when he arrived in Egypt. He really couldn't be sure, too sure, what the future held for him. Or was he alone? Well, again, as the text in the chapter says, The Lord was with Joseph. Of course, this is not to say the Lord was not with him when his brothers grabbed him and stripped him of that special coat or when he was sitting in that dry well all alone or when he was sold and taken off by strangers far, far away to Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph through all of that. But now, the Spirit of God, the true author of Scripture, intends for us to see a beautiful cause and effect picture here. The Lord is the cause as He is with Joseph and the effect is seen in undeniable prosperity. Joseph's undeniable prosperity begins with what we might call a reversal of roles, of fortunes. Now we have no idea what may have been going on in Joseph's mind as he entered Egypt and as he became a commodity on the slave auction block. His dreams, remember his dreams? His dreams of being a ruler, ruling over his family, well, they appeared to be just that, dreams. Boys and girls, you know what happens to your dreams when you wake up in the morning, don't you? They're gone. He was anything but a ruler. Just like Joseph, the father of Jesus that we considered this morning, This Joseph did not yet have the rest of the story as we do. Yet we can be sure, based on our knowledge of Joseph from Scripture, that he believed God. He was a man of faith. And we know that he was being prepared for leadership and that he had been enrolled, as it were, in ruler boot camp. And it would not all be pleasant. But again, he was no longer in the dry well. he was sold as a slave to be sure but we know that the whole Joseph story can be summarized with one word that's true of all of Scripture but in a particular way the whole Joseph story can be summarized with one word and that's providence and in God's providence Joseph was purchased not by a local businessman who needed a little extra help during the busy season not by a farmer who needed a few more hands in the field during harvest time but by one of Pharaoh's officials. Pharaoh, the highest man in Egypt. No one higher than Pharaoh. Pharaoh snapped his fingers and people moved. Pharaoh said, jump, and his servants said, how high? Joseph was purchased by one of Pharaoh's VIPs. One of his top men. Now boys and girls, it's kind of like going to work for one of President Bush's top advisors. One of his trusted cabinet officials. And if you think about it, what an opportunity to climb the ladder of responsibility and success. And Joseph did succeed, as the text tells us. He prospered. He prospered. Why? Because the Lord was with him. It wasn't Joseph's hard work that gave him success. Wow! That's a slap in the face, isn't it? That goes against everything we're taught. Work hard and you'll succeed. It wasn't Joseph's hard work that gave him success. It was the Lord's blessing upon Joseph's hard work that gave him success. But his reversal of fortune really began the moment he entered Egypt. Again, he entered as a slave, as property by this time, really not knowing what his future would be. And although he was still a slave, he was no longer in a cold, dry well, but he was working and he was being cared for in a warm house. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master, as the text says, and we can assume with all of his needs being met, all of this, because the Lord was with him. And the Lord's blessing then resulted in undeniable prosperity, And Joseph's prosperity, beloved, was plain to see. The blessings were evident. Notice again verses 2-5, a beautiful description, explanation, if you will, of the prosperity of Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. Now we need to understand too that Joseph didn't right away become his attendant. It was a progression, of course. Joseph, in a sense, worked his way up. But we need to understand that the idea of prospered here, we need to understand it in the sense of phenomenal. Beyond expectation. The likes of which I've never seen before. To put it in agricultural terms, the crops yielded more bushels per acre than ever before. With regard to industry, Profits were greater than one could ever imagine, and the losses were cut to nothing. Investments skyrocketed. In our day and age, with this kind of success, Joseph could write his own paycheck with the wealthiest and the most successful of corporations. And Potiphar was not blind to this. Joseph was so prosperous that it could not be ignored. Even Potiphar recognized it, And it must have been so great that Potiphar knew that it had to be more than just the man Joseph. He saw that the Lord was with Joseph. Now, how could he see that? I don't think he knew the Lord. But how could he see that? How did he know the Lord was with Joseph? We know because it says it, right? we've got the words printed on the page, Genesis chapter 39. But Potiphar? No, there must have been something about Joseph himself that made it clear to his master that Joseph had another master to whom Joseph was even more committed and that commitment made Joseph completely committed to Potiphar. Joseph, as someone has said, though stripped of his coat, had not been stripped of his character. And I believe that we can describe Joseph's character as being faithful, honest, upright, and conscientious. And this because he served the heavenly master, first of all. And this character gave shape to his work ethic, which, beloved, is to describe the character and the work ethic of every single believer. And again, I'm sure temptation was there. Possibly by his fellow slaves, the temptation to just get by. Joseph, just do what you're asked and nothing more. You owe Potiphar nothing. But Joseph knew that even as the Lord was with him, he was always in the Lord's presence. And as we consider the life of Joseph from here on out, as we continue on studying the Joseph story, we must notice, beloved, that his speech is always filled with references to God. Again, to Potiphar's wife, he says, how can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? When it came to the dreams of the cup bearer and the baker, he says, interpretations belong to God. When talking to Pharaoh about his dreams, Joseph said, God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. And with regard to the interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, he said, God has revealed. To his brothers later on, he said, God sent me ahead of you. And as well, he said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. We might say that Joseph really became a foreign missionary, didn't he? Joseph worked in the way that Paul encouraged Christian slaves to act in the Roman Empire. We read about that in Ephesians 6, verses 5-8. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good He does, whether He is a slave or free. Gems. Joseph knew, as you have helped to remind us tonight, that it's all God's. Even what Potiphar thought belonged to him was really God's. And Joseph knew it, didn't he? And he was a faithful steward of all that God gave to him to care for. And Joseph knew that he was the Lord's. He knew that he belonged to the Lord and his desire was that whatever he did, he would do it to the glory of God. And beloved, when we truly work as unto the Lord, then we also want to give Him our all. Yet sadly, I must confess that in my sin, I don't always want to give it my all. Sometimes I don't want to give it anything at all if I don't see any benefit in it for me. But notice when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. He doesn't add, if it benefits you. God's glory is to be our one and only motive. Indeed, Joseph prospered in everything. Did you notice that word everything? Sometimes it's translated all, everything, all. Simply means everything. And everything he did. And therefore, everything of Potiphar's prospered as well. But notice, Joseph wasn't getting rich off of his labors. His prosperity was not gaining him any personal or material wealth. God would provide that later, we know. But working for Potiphar, as far as we can tell, Joseph wasn't lining his pockets. He wasn't padding his bank account. He was still a slave. He was working for his master. You see, beloved, this text isn't about simply success and prosperity, teaching us that if you are believers and strive to be faithful to God, that we will automatically enjoy material success and prosperity with all of our physical wants, not just our needs, but all of our physical wants and desires satisfied in abundance. indeed god might bless us with physical and material success and prosperity but he might not yet god's people are blessed to be a blessing to the world in joseph's case potiphar recognized through the prosperity that the lord gave to joseph potiphar recognized that the lord was with joseph and in that way potiphar shared in the lord's blessing upon joseph not in a spiritual way but with physical blessing and what we find here you see is a partial fulfillment of god's promise to abraham in genesis chapter 12 when the lord says i will make you into a great nation and i will bless you i will make your name great and you will be a blessing i will bless those who bless you And whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Now we know, we know through the teachings of Peter and Paul that ultimately this is talking about the blessing of salvation going out to the Gentiles. But the blessing of prosperity that Potiphar enjoyed through the Lord's blessing upon Joseph points forward to that. It points forward to that prosperity of salvation going to the Gentiles. As well, it points forward to the blessing Joseph would a little bit later bring to all of Egypt. Beloved, the world, including our employers or our employees or our neighbors or our classmates or simply all who observe us, the world is to see in our Christian character the blessing that God is with us. And they are to see that we are conscious that God is with us and that we are always in His presence. Our lives as they are offered as living sacrifices to God are to be a living testimony to the world of unbelievers of God's grace and His mercy and His peace poured out upon His people through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. What is our blessing? The blessing of Jesus Christ. The blessing of Jesus Christ whose whole desire, whose entire delight was to do the will of God and glorify Him. And beloved, that resulted in our salvation, in our transformation from slaves to sin to being servants of righteousness. And we are called to demonstrate by our thankful obedience, that thankful obedience which is to be evident throughout every detail of our lives, we are called to demonstrate that it's all God's, including you and me. And the greatest blessing the world can receive from God through you and me is our faithful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. That they can see the Lord is with us. And Jesus Himself tells us what the goal is to be when He says in Matthew 5, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and what? Pat you and me on the back? No. Praise your Father in heaven. And that is to be our prayer, isn't it? We don't change hearts. Sometimes some of us get frustrated because of that. A friend we've been talking to, witnessing to, or praying for, We know that they've heard the Gospel message, but there's no change. And that's frustrating. We don't change hearts. That's the Holy Spirit's job. But our prayer is to be that God would bring some to Himself through the evidence of His blessing in our lives. Of course, we know that sometimes instead of the world praising God on account of us, They might blaspheme God on account of us. And may that never be, beloved, because we have in some way cast shame on the name of Jesus. But we also know that many will see our Christian witness. It will rub them the wrong way. They will hate it. They will be hardened in their rejection of Jesus Christ. But others will respond by God's grace. Potiphar responded to Joseph's undeniable prosperity with undoubted confidence. Now please understand, I'm not saying that Potiphar became a believer. But he recognized the Lord's blessing upon Joseph and we're told after that beautiful section, verses 2-5, we're told in verse 6, so he left in Joseph's care everything he had. With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything. except the food he ate. Joseph's faithful service was rewarded by Potiphar and it's clear that he did not misuse that confidence. He did not misplace that confidence that becomes crystal clear, I believe, later on when he would not touch Potiphar's wife. He said, you belong to your husband. I belong to the Lord. It's thought that Joseph's duties included supervision over all the operations of, for example, agriculture and gardening and the tending of the livestock as well as fishing. Accurate records were kept with regard to every product, every quantity, every last bit of livestock in order to check the honesty or the dishonesty of the laborers as well to discourage dishonest activity. And it seems that Potiphar was so convinced that Joseph was doing the best and what was best for Potiphar that he only concerned himself with the food that he ate. Now some say that this is literally talking only about food, what he stuck in his mouth. But others think this means Joseph was not given charge of Potiphar's most private and personal affairs, maybe like our personal checkbook. But whatever the case, Joseph fits with what Jesus said about the shrewd manager in Luke chapter 16. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And we know that he was being prepared to be trusted with the entire land of Egypt. Potiphar trusted Joseph completely, without a doubt, and made him the chief manager, the chief steward of his house. He was over Potiphar's house, but he was under the Lord's blessing and guidance. Beloved, Joseph enjoyed undeniable prosperity by the grace of God. But his greatest prosperity did not consist of gold or silver or material things. But the greatest prosperity he enjoyed was the prosperity of faith. Faith in God and that the Lord was with him. And through his faith, God prepared Joseph for all that was to come, including the temptation from and the false accusation by Potiphar's wife. The Lord was preparing Joseph to save his own family. As well, the Lord was preparing Joseph to save the line leading to Christ that his family would come, that the church, the Old Testament church, would be nourished in the incubator of Egypt leading to Christ. His prosperity of faith points to the prosperity of faith all believers enjoy by God's grace. By faith, we enjoy the prosperity our Lord Jesus Christ has merited for us who perfectly and willingly fulfilled His Father's will and plan. The prosperity of salvation, including the forgiveness of all of our sins, including the righteousness of Christ to stand before God, that you and I might stand before God with our sin not seen, but the righteousness of Christ, including the assurance of eternal life. And all of this is ours today, beloved, along with the blessed assurance that God is with us, even when we can't seem to find Him at times. In every situation, God is with us. In Christ, we enjoy undeniable prosperity. Our fortunes have been reversed as He has brought us from the rags of sin to the riches of His righteousness. And that prosperity of faith is the prosperity that is to be clearly evident to the world. As that faith, beloved, makes our Christian character real and visible. And God will cause some in the world to respond to our faith and to our Christian character with respect and trust, while others will attack us and falsely accuse us of hypocrisy. But just as Potiphar was blessed by Joseph, if the world is blessed by genuine Christianity, when you and I, for example, are honest, faithful, law-abiding citizens, and as we strive to maintain good order and stewardship in this world, the world is blessed through the believer's generosity, kindness, courtesy, honesty, and most of all, love, our love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, most of the world will not see this as a blessing for them. But no matter what, one thing is sure. The world is to have, to be able to have undoubted confidence, beloved, that our faith and our witness for Christ is real. And that it's genuine. And that in us, through us, they see, by God's grace, the genuine way of salvation. May it be that we would reflect clearly and accurately the undeniable prosperity which is found by all who look to the Lord Jesus Christ in true faith. We are to be true, genuine representatives of Christ, clearly pointing the way to Him. And not only are we called to be good stewards of this earth and all that God has given to us on it, but we are called to be good stewards of that precious gift of faith. We will fail at times. We will fail daily. But in life, in death, my comfort is redeemed by Jesus. I am His. And our confidence, beloved, is in the work of God the Holy Spirit. And may He take our imperfect yet genuine living testimony for Christ and may He continue in some small way to use that to build His church. And may it be our goal that at the start of every single day, someone may see that indeed the Lord is with us. And just as the Lord prepared Joseph for leadership, may our prayer be that the Holy Spirit would continue to sanctify us and prepare us to reign with Christ forever and ever. What is true prosperity? To belong to Jesus Christ by faith. and to know by faith that the Lord is with us. That's prosperity. That's security. That's blessing. That's true life. And that's for all who truly believe in Jesus. Praise God for Emmanuel, God with us. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we do thank You and praise You for Your plan. That which You have revealed to us, that which we do not know, that which remains hidden, yet that plan which is perfect. And Father, we are amazed at how You worked in the life of Joseph throughout history for Your kingdom, for the benefit of your church, and as well to be an example for us as well that we, like Him, are called to point to the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing that our God is with us for the sake of the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Father, we thank You for that blessed assurance to walk day by day throughout this life to know that You never forsake us, that You fill us with Your blessing and Father we pray to you that we would never take that for granted but that we would desire to be lights shining in a dark world for you Father it's not always easy give us strength give us courage continue to bless us with your presence in Jesus name we pray these things Amen