Joseph, When Dreams Turn to Doubt

Introduction

She would leave your books open to the next page from the one hundred one. We’ll use those our invitation song at Brother Gunners’ lesson one hundred and one. I carry a pocket New Testament with me when I preach. If sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, I call this my dagger. And it’s just a very handy sized Bible. I find it easier for public reading. I can turn very quickly. But I certainly would never want to give the impression by carrying a pocket New Testament that I somehow think that the Old Testament is unimportant. While we are certainly under the new covenant that was inaugurated by the blood of Jesus, even the New Testament says that it stands upon the foundation of the old, that the Old Testament is our tutor, our schoolmaster, which leads us to Christ.

The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter fifteen and verse four that what was written before was written for not our entertainment, but our learning that we, through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, might have hope. And so I have very carefully chosen for the next three nights in our theme of building character from Bible characters, three Old Testament stories. And we will seek to find in these old stories some principles for living today that will help us develop the character of the new man that is likened to that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thank you for being here tonight, especially those who are visiting, as Tony said, from so many different places. The people here at Decker Prairie have worked hard for this meeting.

You can always tell that. And so your presence tonight not only encourages them, encourages me as well. Thank you for your interest in the things of God. I don’t have a scientific data or poll to prove what I’m about to say, but I believe it to be the case. If you’re to ask people who their favorite Bible character is, and just first of all, take Jesus off the table. He’s not an option. Who’s your favorite Bible character? Joseph is going to be almost always near the top, if not the top choice that people will risk for their favorite Bible character. And so for that purpose, I think it’s expedient that we begin our evening lessons this week with a short study of the story of Joseph.

And I want to, for our purposes tonight, focus our attention on Genesis the 39th chapter. And I invite you to turn in your Bible to that opening. Genesis chapter 39, and we will begin reading at verse 1. Genesis 39, verse 1 beginning. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Polypher, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him, and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and became his personal servant.

And he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. Thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge, and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said to his master’s wife, Behold, with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.

There is no one greater in the house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? It came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened the day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household were there inside. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us.

He came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. And it came about when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside. So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words.

That his anger burned. So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph, and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail, so that whatever was done there he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. Nearly twenty times in the scriptures, that’s old and new testament combined. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are listed together. They became these three men, the fates of what we call the age of the patriarchs.

They became the standard bearer of God’s covenant with the Hebrew nation. Remember, it’s called the land that was sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But have you ever noticed how much attention, how much space is given to telling the story of the fourth patriarch, the son of Jacob? Joseph? There is not the intent to just hit the highlights or skin the few things that happened in his life. In fact, if you look at the book of Genesis as a whole, the only character that’s given more space in Genesis is Abraham, the father of the faithful.

We’ve been where Joseph was. We felt the things that Joseph felt. Who here has ever felt betrayed, even by people in their own family, the way Joseph’s brothers did him. Couldn’t even speak to him on friendly terms, we are told. You ever felt like that? Who here has been accused of something they did not do and punished for it? Just because you were trying to do what was right. But who here has felt all of these things and more and responded the way Joseph did? Whose faith has taken hit after hit after hit, but still clung faithfully to a God who is working all things together for good. Maybe that’s why it’s so much space is giving, given to telling his story. To help us build a character like him.

1. You Don't Have to Be a Slave to Your Circumstances

But I want you to see tonight what happens when dreams turn to doubt, when life deals us unfairly and unjustly. What will our response be? What kind of character will we reveal? I think we can learn from this favorite Bible character from the story of Joseph tonight. And just this picture we have from Genesis 39. I want to suggest three things. First of all, we learn from Joseph, our favorite character, that you don’t have to be a slave to your circumstances. You don’t have to be a slave to the circumstances of life. Did you notice how the chapter started? Verse 1 tells us now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites and had taken him down there.

Joseph, the dreamer. He had dreams of his brothers, his mother and father bowing down to him. But don’t you know he never dreamed his life would go this way? He was sold as a slave by his own brothers, whose hatred and jealousy for him had reached the point that they were going to kill him. And probably would have done so had not the eldest Reuben intervened. But they sold him for the price of what we would consider $15. And the Ishmaelites took him away. And they took him down to Egypt. And there the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard, Potiphar, bought him and made him a slave in his house. But did you notice how verse 2 tells what Joseph’s response was? And the Lord was with Joseph.

So he became a successful man. Because you don’t have to be a slave to your circumstances of life. Some people are looking for the perfect life. That is, they’re married to the perfect spouse. They don’t ever have a disagreement about anything. They have perfect kids who never misbehave, who are always respectful. They live in a perfect house that never has to have anything done to it. They drive a perfect car that’s always working, and they go to the perfect job. The guy takes his briefcase in the morning, kisses his wife goodbye. And should there ever be anything that comes up that’s unexpected, it’s neatly solved in a simple 30-minute episode of life. It’s perfect. But life doesn’t work out that way, does it? It doesn’t work out that way for God’s people.

It didn’t work out that way for the fourth patriarch, the man given the secondmost amount of space in the book of Genesis. But the way Joseph responded was not to say, well, I’m a slave. I guess I’ll just be a slave the rest of my life. I guess I’m just meant to be in bondage, and I’ll never amount to anything. No, he became successful. Now, because the Lord was with him, and we’ll get to get back to that later. But don’t you appreciate the attitude of the dreamer? Just because some door had closed did not mean the rest of his life shut down. Because you don’t have to be a slave to your circumstances. Let me tell you tonight, when life deals us unfairly, sometimes our reaction is just to concede defeat and say, Well, I’ll never be worth anything.

I can never do anything. We become a slave to discouragement. You ever known somebody that just had the unique ability to see the negative in everything? I mean everything. Have a big contingency from the Waller’s church tonight. That was where I decided I wanted to preach the gospel. We were, Melissa and I were at school at AM, and we’d drive out to Waller to preach. I’d preach on Sundays, did that for a year. But during our time at AM, one of the older ladies there was kind of that way. She just always would focus on the negative. It didn’t matter what happened, it was always negative. Well, one year when we were there at Twin City, we had just a horrible drought. I mean, so badly that men, and this tells you how bad it is, we actually prayed for rain.

Can you believe that? Well, God answered our prayers. And it became a torrential downpour. And I watched as this lady who had complained and complained and complained about the dry weather, comes in on a Wednesday night and it’s just pouring like it’s going to be Noah’s flood all over again. And she’s defiantly shaking out her umbrella at the door, and she said, Well, we needed rain, but we didn’t need this much rain. You ever know somebody like that? You say, Well, I can’t think of anymore. Well, maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re the one that’s like that. You don’t have to be a slave to that where everything. Don’t you realize that when you’re around people like that makes you discouraged. Because all people do is assume the worst instead of thinking the best.

Not Joseph. You don’t have to be a slave to bitterness. It could have been very easy for Joseph. His own family having betrayed him should just completely shut him off from every other person in the world. Well, if that’s the way people are, I’m just not going to have anything to do with anybody. There’s a reason the Hebrew writer says in Hebrews 12 and verse 15, he warns of the root of bitterness. Because that’s what bitterness does. It grows and it takes hold and it takes over. And if you’re not careful, it poisons you. And bitterness must be rooted out before we have a hard heart that is so callous, cannot be touched and pricked by the gospel of Christ. You don’t have to be a slave to selfishness, but rather look for ways to be of service to other people.

What we learned from Joseph is you don’t have to be a slave to your circumstances. Sure, life may have dealt you unfairly. And I don’t pretend tonight to make light of anything that has happened to you. But when the Lord is with you can still be successful. You can still be someone who’s important, who matters. You don’t have to be a slave. We learned that from the fourth patriarch. But I want you to notice secondly.

2. When Mistreated, You Still Have to Do the Right Thing

When you’ve been mistreated, when someone has done you horribly wrong, you still have to do the right thing. Joseph grew up, or rather, Joseph was sold to the captain of the bodyguard, Potiphar, and he’s position increased in the house. He became second in command of all his household and servants and things that were part of Potiphar’s life. And the Lord wasn’t the only one who was noticing Joseph. Seventeen-year-old boy, handsome in form and appearance. And Potiphar’s wife saw him. I suppose you could call her the original desperate housewife. Because she was after Joseph. Don’t let the picture be painted that this was just one proposal, one proposition, that the timing was right. Did you notice in our text it said day after day she was after him?

And did you notice the response of Joseph? The circumstances came where no one else was in the house. It was just the two of them. And she approached him and again propositioned him. And Joseph’s response was not to say, we can’t do this. Somebody might come home and catch us. We can’t do this. Your husband might find out. How then, verse 9, could I do this great evil and sin against God? Joseph didn’t say, Well, I’ve gotten the short end of the stick this whole time. I might as well enjoy myself while I’m here. I might as well get something out of this. Because it’s not right the way I’ve been treated. He knew that committing fornication was not going to bring his family back. Committing sexual sin was not going to make all of his problems go away.

In fact, what it would do would intensify them because now he would have sinned against God who had faithfully watched over him. Even when you’ve been wronged, you still have to do right. But we have a tendency to add trouble to trouble. Husband has a bad day at the office. Somebody else gets credit for work he’s done, or some mistake is made with a project now delayed or has to start all the way back to the beginning. And he brings that home with him. And the kids are excited that Daddy’s home and he lashes out at them, and the wifey does the same thing. He’s been bottling up all inside, and he just releases it. Well, today any better now. The teenager thinks their parents are treating them unfairly.

You don’t understand what it’s like to be a teenager. You don’t know what I have to deal with being a young person. So they leave the house and go drinking with their friends. Well, that’s going to make them understand you a lot better, isn’t it? The wife has a husband who won’t communicate with her. He won’t talk to me. So she confides in a man who will. And two people who are just friends commit adultery. How’s that communication gap now? How will our troubles get any better by getting further away from God? How is life going to be improved by shutting God out and not seeking his counsel and not surrounding ourselves with his people who love us and care for us and want to help us?

These are times when we ought to be seeking in more and drawing closer, not pushing them away.

How could I do this great evil and sin against God? He’s the only one that’s going to bring me through this. How could I betray you?

You’ve been wrong. You still need to do the right thing. And then a third lesson we learn as we seek to build a character, like our favorite character. Number three.

3. Trust Him That He Sees the Bigger Picture

In other words, the roadmap you have for your life might not be the same one that God has. And so we’ve got to trust him that he sees the bigger picture. This is really the common thread that ties this whole chapter together. In fact, they serve as bookends. Did you notice when we read the chapter how verses one and two, or excuse me, verses two and three were like verses 21 and 23? Look at them again, verse 2. And the Lord was with Joseph. So he became a successful man. Look at verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. Verse 3. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him, and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Verse 23, the chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. See, it didn’t matter where Joseph was. Whether he was in Canaan or in Potiphar’s house or in jail, the Lord was with him. And the Lord made whatever he did to prosper so that he could be successful. But it was all tied to his relationship with God. And God, in so doing, was unfolding a plan and purpose that Joseph never would have dreamed. Surely Joseph prayed for deliverance as he was being carted away by those Ishmaelites. Surely he thought, when Dad finds out about this, he’ll come rescue me. Little did he know that his dad would think he was dead.

Surely Joseph prayed for deliverance in the jail. That somebody would find out the truth of the story, that he had not tried to rape that woman, but that was all manufactured. Surely the truth will come out, and don’t come get me out of here. And for two years, he remained in the jail so that they would know where he was when the time came for him to interpret the Pharaoh’s dream. Do you have faith that the Lord is with you? I remember a prayer when I was just turned twenty. I prayed that God would somehow miraculously intervene on the heart of a young woman that I felt a certain way about that he would make her feel that way about me, and that it was a prayer that went unanswered, it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to, and I since thought about that and thanked them because you see, then I’d never had met, would never have met Melissa, and we wouldn’t have Morgan and David, and so thank God He was making the plans and purposes and not me.

And I tell you, we ought to thank God for things that don’t happen. Things that we beg him for, that he says, wait. You ever notice that there are sometimes things that you have to hold further away in order to see them? Sometimes I see people checking their text messages and they gotta hold their cell phone way out here. And you would think if you if you held the hand, but no, you’ve got to hold it way out here. There are some things that you don’t see until you see them far away. And if we can understand that from our limited perspective here on earth, if we can look back and see twists and turns in our life where we thought was going all to pieces.

And actually God was working. Can you imagine what it must look like from his throne in heaven? How we ought to train our eyes to see the way God sees. In Romans the 8th chapter, verse 28. One of the most comforting verses in all of the Bible. Romans 8 and verse 28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. The interesting thing about that verse is that in the Greek, if we were to read that in the Greek, the word works and the word causes is the same word. It’s the same word for work. So it would read this way. And we know that God works all things to work together for those who love God.

What’s the point? God is working in your life.

He says, okay, here’s the ball, the bat, the glove, go play. He’s working. And he’s working all things together for good to those who love him. His plans may not meet with our purposes. But we must, like Joseph, have confidence in his time and not in ours. In Hebrews the 11th chapter. Notice how Joseph is mentioned in this great hall of faith, along with the life of Abel and Moses and Abraham. By faith, Hebrews 1122. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones. By faith. By faith in what? That God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To your descendants, I will give this land. And so by faith, Joseph said in almost his dying breath, when God brings you out of Egypt, you dig up my bones over here, and you bury them in the land sworn to my fathers.

Because he believed what God said.

Conclusion

That he’s working. Can you see his purposes and plans in your life? You know what that’s called? Character. How will you respond the next time you encounter various trials? The next time your faith is tested. The next time you’re tempted to just throw in the towel and give up. How will you respond? Will it be like Joseph? Because you see, when the Lord is with you, your dreams really do come true. And you too can inherit a promised land sworn to those who were faithful until death. Are you ready tonight to stand before the Lord and give an account for your life? Are you ready to make the character of Jesus Christ your own by confessing your faith in him as the Son of God and repenting of your sins to be baptized?

Have all those things washed clean. If we can help you and assist you tonight in being right with God, we want you to come right now while we stand and while we stand.

Okay.