Genesis 39 - Three Choices That Can Define Your Life

Hey, I'm going to invite you to Genesis. Chapter 39 is where we're at together today in Genesis chapter 39 and another, we'll say, difficult section of Scripture. Dennis, Genesis chapter 39 is, I will tell you, as a pastor, sometimes when you study these sections, you really go through an emotional journey of pouring your heart into these passages and trying to express it to everyone else. And I just want to say, I'm looking forward to one of those fluffy chapters of Genesis, whenever that's going to happen. but Genesis 39 is again one of those challenging passages that get us to wrestle with things that are really vital to how you choose to live your life. And the reason I say that is because Genesis 39, we if you remember, we left off in the story of Joseph where, chapter 37, he was, captured by his brothers and sold into slavery. And then they went back into reported to their father that their brother had been killed by a wild animal. And so the father's distraught, mourning the death of his son. The sons? No. They sold him into slavery. but now, in chapter, chapter 38, we read about Judah and Tamar. Now, in chapter 39, we're picking up the story of Joseph again, as he's been sold into slavery and he was 17 years old, captured by the Ishmaelites, or sold to the Ishmaelites, carried to Egypt, and sold into slavery in Egypt.

In Genesis 39, verse one, it says this. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. So if you followed in the two chapters, really chapter 37, what we're going to read in chapter 39 of Joseph, what you've seen is his life has got some really high highs and low lows, right in the in terms of his relationship and his family. His family was a family that was fairly prominent. And Joseph was treated as the apple of his father's eye. His father picked favorites, which don't do that with your kids. That don't mess them up. But his father did anyway. He picked Joseph as his favorite, and he lavished upon him, gifts and love above all the other children. We know that, Jacob, his father, had 12, 12 sons, one daughter, at least it tells us in Scripture. And Joseph was seen as the favorite. And because of that, he received gifts and praise and prominence in the family. And it made his brothers angry, to the point his brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites as a slave. And now he comes into Egypt as the slave. And you can imagine how degrading this would be to him as a human being. He would have been put on the slave market.

People would have just combed over him, looking at him for the purposes that they wanted to, whatever they wanted to do with him, his life was no longer his own. He was bought by someone else and brought into their household. And the story we find out that person is Potiphar. And Potiphar is really the general of the army. He was in charge of the military in Egypt. And so Joseph is brought into this place. He goes to this place of position in his home, this place of wealth. And now he has absolutely nothing. He's a slave. His life's not his own. He's been bought. And the question we could really ask at this point of the story is to simply say, what kind of person is Joseph going to be? How is this going to play out for him? Yeah, a lot of what we're going to discover in Joseph's life is who he sees himself, the value that he discovers in and of himself, intrinsically given to him through his Lord is going to determine really who he is. But anytime we face circumstances where we lose a lot or really lose anything, it brings us to this place of challenging or wrestling with our identity. Where do I discover the value of who I am? And this is the position that we find Joseph in. Because what he identifies when in will determine the steps that he takes is worth simply based on what happens to him, or does he discover his identity and another way because when you achieve in life and you succeed at the things of this world, if you find your identity in those things, then you're going to think you're something great.

But then when you go through a period of life where you lose those things, you've got to also wear the lows. And so if you if you find your identity rooted in what you achieve or in your failures, then you're going to ride the roller coasters of those emotions and the ups and downs of those identities. Ultimately, you're going to find yourself bankrupt in that. But that's the question really here for Joseph is Joseph, you had everything and now you've lost all of it. Who are you really? And what are you about? And you see in verse 2 to 5 that the story is going to reiterate a theme here in the beginning and the end of what is vital for Joseph to recognize. And in verse two it says this. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord calls all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house, and put him in charge of all that he had from the time that he had made him overseer in his house.

And over all that he had, the Lord blessed the egyptian's house. For Joseph's sake the blessing of the Lord was all that he had in the house and field. for Joseph. The Bible says in this passage five times, right? Verse two says at once. Verse three says it twice, and verse five says it twice. That the Lord was with Joseph, the Lord was with Joseph. Meaning, just because Joseph went through ups and downs, it didn't change the consistency of who God was, that God remained constant through it. All right. And so we certainly see in this story that God is with Joseph. But I think the question we could ask in return is, but does Joseph really walk with God? And the steps that he takes from this point really demonstrate for us the place that he finds his identity and the kind of person he's determined to be, with or without the things of this world. And so this morning we look at this passage, this really what we want to talk about in recognition, recognition of Joseph is the three choices that can define our life. We're going to see as Joseph's story unfolds here, there are different avenues that he can he could have followed.

And by the way, these avenues are not an exhaustive avenue. We're just highlighting a few of these. I could certainly point out one that I didn't include that could be on this list is the Avenue of Despair. he could have chosen because he lost everything, to just follow a path of despair because he found his identity there, and because of that, then he feels like he's worthless. But there are at least three choices, and maybe more we could point out for which we could pursue to define our lives. The first two of these, by the way, are traps. Oftentimes the world will tempt us with these things. So the first two we're going to talk about are traps. And the last one is ultimately what leads to our freedom. So the big question here, as God is consistent with Joseph in his life, the question is, does Joseph then choose to walk with God? And the temptations thrown at Joseph are to find his identity and any other path? But there's only one way by which we find freedom. And point number one in your notes, the first trap that we can we can fall victim to is the trap of achieving. The trap of achieving. Let me just say, achieving in and of itself is not bad, right? I certainly hope that God's people would be blessed and you would find success in your life and understanding how to use that success for his glory.

But just because you don't have certain things that happen in your life does not mean that you're worthless. In fact, when it when it says that Joseph finds success here, ultimately you find in the Old Testament that a lot of times what happened to Israel physically was a was a reflection of who God was. In the New Testament, we read that God has given you as a believer in Christ, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Ephesians chapter one says that in Christ you receive this new identity in him. You belong in him for eternity. And God gives you a new name, a new place, a new identity, a new hope, a new future. forgiveness of your past. I mean, you get all these things in Christ, and so you are a victorious. The Bible tells you because of that, you have victory because of that. And now as a believer, you get to walk in that victory. And so it's important to understand in the life of a Christian what success really looks like, because there's a way the world defines it, and there's a way that the Lord defines it, and the way the world defines it tends to be. To be about what you achieve and what you achieve determines what you're worth. Right. But there are things in this world that you can you can live, live for that are completely contrary to what God says.

That success in the Lord is different than success in this world. And you think about you look at Jesus's life. Many people could look at Jesus and label him a loser and Jesus started his ministry late. Or excuse me. Yeah, he started his ministry late. He ended his ministry early and the people that did follow him abandoned him. In the end, he never held a political position. He walked around this world, basically the life of a pauper. And so by the worldly standards, you could look at Jesus, who you claim to follow and say, oh, the world would label that a complete failure. But we know it's Jesus that transforms life and even today. So the idea of the world's success and God's success is completely, really a paradigm shift. It's an upside down kingdom. Right? So it's important for us to understand how to shape our success according to what God calls success. An achievement in itself is not wrong, but it's a prioritizing the achievement towards a greater purpose and cause that matters. And so there is this trap that we can experience in achievement by defining who we are and the success that we receive. Which leaves you with a question. When you don't have anything or when you lose anything. Does that mean God doesn't care about you? Does that make you worthless? And Joseph is certainly going through that roller coaster of experience in the story.

He was having everything. Now all of a sudden he's a slave. And so, Joseph, what makes you valuable? And now all of a sudden, here he comes back into Pharaoh's household, or, excuse me, Potiphar's household. And he's living this life of really knowing the Lord. And he's starting to see this earthly success again. Is that what makes him who he is? And you see the idea of really this playing out the trap of achievement, not just through the picture of Joseph, but what happens in verse six. It says, so he left all talking about Potiphar, all, all that he had in Joseph's charge. And because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. I know for some of you know this struggle is real. Like some of you, the greatest fight you'll have this week is what restaurant you're going to eat out, right? And this is what it's saying about this is what it's saying about Potiphar is the only challenge his life really had is he woke up in the morning and had to figure out what he wanted to pick on the menu. And now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Verse seven. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me.

But he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of my of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He has. He is no greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her. He would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day, when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me. But he left his garment and in her hand, and fled and got out of the house. Can I just say, I think in this story it is apparent to Potiphar and Potiphar's wife that God is with Joseph, but they don't care so much about God as they care about the things they get from God, which ultimately is showing you who the true God is of their life, which is themselves. And so they have they have certainly found their identity in their possessions, in their position, in their power. And because of that, they're leveraging it for their own advantage to the detriment of those around them.

And you're seeing this in Potiphar's wife or in the context it says this in verse seven and verse 12, this declaration that she gives lie with me, which is really like saying sex. Now that's she's just demanding, right? She's just commanding. She's trying to use her authority in the position that she has to get what she wants because she sees herself as the center of the universe and in so doing, abuses those around her to satisfy herself. She has wrapped her identity in the thought of achievement and what she's received, and therefore use those things for her glory. And in so doing, it leads to the to the detriment of those around her. And so you see this really this polarization between these two figures and the outlook that they carry in life, that one finds themselves in what they have and the other one is discovering in their identity, in who they are in light of who God is. Jude warns us of really people like this, the book of Jude in chapter, chapter one, verse 12 and 13. There's only one chapter in Jude, so it's just 12 and 13. But Jude, Jude warns of false teachers. He says, look, they're promoting something that are like reefs at your love feasts, that it carries the idea that they want you to pursue what it is that they're calling you to the things of this world.

And you kind of run your ship aground because you pursue those things that when you attain them, what else is there? You get the temporal gratification of that. But that in and of itself is not meaningful enough for you as a human being, that ultimately it leads you, leaves you feeling broken or there's this idea of not just the reefs, but it refers to, pursuing the teachings of this world as wandering stars. And you think about what? What in the world is a wandering star? I like going outside and seeing my little wish, some kind of shooting star. What was it? What's wrong with a wandering star? Well, in a day when you don't have compasses and you need to follow something for navigation, if you kind of fix yourself on a wandering star, a star that does not stay in its chosen spot in the sky, the only thing it's going to do is lead you astray. It's going to leave you empty and broken. And really, this is what we find with the with Potiphar's wife. That she has what she wants. She demands it according to her power and position. She thinks that she finds her joy, her identity in this. And when she doesn't get what she wants, she cries like a baby. The trap of achievement. Can leave us empty.

It could have left Joseph empty if he found his identity in all that his father had given him, because he lost it all. And the truth is for us that whatever you might appreciate in the things of this world, all of it will pass away. And if you try to find your identity in that the worth of who you are, it will leave you empty and broken. And in so doing, you will become an abuser to people around you as you try to leverage those things to serve you, rather than use the things God gives to bless others. There is the trap of achievement. The second trap is this. It's the trap of pleasure. It's the trap of a pleasure. And let me say this again. Pleasure in and of itself is not wrong. I mean, God created it for a reason. Right. And, pleasure. It can be something that can be appreciated as long in a healthy way, as long as it's ordered according to the way in which God desires. And here we see in chapter 39, people living for their personal pleasure and in so doing using another person as a tool. You see this painted this picture, painted in the life of Potiphar's wife that her interest is not only in the trap of achievement, using her position to abuse those around her, but it's also in the trap of pleasure that she just simply wants to satisfy herself.

And in so doing, she abuses Joseph. And in chapter 39, we're specifically seeing this through the idea of sex and sexuality, and in particular this section we can ask ourselves in terms of pleasure as it specifically relates to the sex, as why does it, why does it exist? You know, God certainly created it for a reason. And so what's what's the purpose in which God has sex and sexuality? Joseph, in his comment, he's helping us understand that there are parameters. There's a standard to it. Right? When he when he refers to it as wickedness and sinful. What she wants to do in verse nine, it says, he is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he. He kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Notice Joseph in this story. He's saying, look, this isn't ultimately an affront to your to your husband, but this is ultimately an affront against God. And so in acknowledging this, he's saying there is a standard through through which sex and sexuality has been created by our creator. And he's defining really parameters for how he desires people to experience intimacy. You know, when you think in terms of sex and sexuality, Joseph is really saying the pleasure that you're seeking or the way that the world often portrays it is in conflict with what God desires.

God certainly created it with pleasure for a purpose. Right? But unless our hearts are aligned to that purpose, we will abuse it for our own desires, as if we are God and harm others around us. So how can we have a godly perspective on pleasure? You know, the world tells you the primary point of sex is for your personal pleasure or just simply making you happy, which cheapens from a bigger picture, a grander picture. The reason for which God created it. Sex has seen this world as an appetite. You just you should just fulfill. And therefore the world uses sex as primarily about lust, not love. Lust is about gratifying what you want and treating other people like tools. Love is about using your life to surrender for the benefit of someone else. And by her seeking this gratification in her desires, it's about serving herself in lust to the detriment of others, which is not love. And so the problem with this world's view is one it ignores God's purpose. Two, it makes you God over your sexuality as if to say, you know better for why it exists than God does. And three it demeans others to the position of tools or objects for your own personal gratification. The Christian view of sexuality. It's far more beautiful and fulfilling. Our God certainly created it to be enjoyed.

But the Christian view of sex and sexuality is one of love, not lust. Biblical love is about laying yourself down for the benefit of another. It's the deepest of love that God has designed to be experienced in covenant marriage. Intimacy. sexual intimacy is a gift to be used as the greatest expression of self commitment to another. Used rightly, someone said it like this. It is the final step of your active commitment to your spouse and the most vulnerable and intimate of ways to develop a deeper, more enriching, meaningful, trusting personal relationship. It's why in the New Testament, when the apostle Paul talked about it, he says it like this. In first Corinthians six he says, do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh? He's saying more than just simply use one another for as a tool for your gratification, which is demeaning to the other human being that what God wants to do is. And it can be more demeaning to more people than that. But God, what God desires to do is to build something more beautiful in the intimacy of two becoming one. And the last expression that you have in that covenant relationship of completely giving of yourself is that vulnerability of intimacy. And so because of that, Paul goes on and says it like this.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. He's acknowledging for us. Look, your body is distinct from your soul, but it's not separate. There is a distinction between your body and soul, but they're intertwined in each other. And what you do with your body impacts your soul. It impacts your relationship with the Lord. It impacts your relationship with others. While your body and soul are distinct, they're intertwined. And the beauty of what God wants to do and through the act of intimacy, it's this intertwining of that expression as you give yourself away for someone else. And in recognizing the beauty of that expression and the privilege it is to use your body to honor the Lord and honor someone else. That's why first Corinthians seven five encourages you to pursue that relationship with the spouse. He says, do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a limited time, talking about sexual intimacy, that you may devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self control. So Paul's acknowledging, look, God created it. It's loaded with pleasure. But the purpose of that pleasure is defined in the intimacy that you have to express in one another as you, in the moment of that vulnerability, have the opportunity to give yourself away and complete entrustment to one another.

And it's in this context that you're not abusing one another lustfully for your own gratification. But having the privilege of laying yourself down. To become one and what God has called you to in him. Now when we talk about the idea of pleasure, the beauty of pleasure in this world, again, it's this reminder that pleasure in and of itself is not a bad thing. But pleasure in and of itself is not the highest attaining for which we are created as human beings. The purpose of life is not just simply about waking up and thinking, how can I just make myself happy? Because if that becomes your objective in life, you'll find that you're never completely satisfied because you weren't ultimately made for pleasure. That pleasure is the result of discovering the reason for which you were ultimately made, and just simply pursuing pleasure for pleasure sake. Will just leave you empty inside. Now, when we talk about the idea of sex and sexuality as it relates to pleasure, I want you to know that I'm not saying all this to just to guilt us. I'm not saying all this to guilt us at all. What I'm. What I'm trying to help us understand is, I realize there is a message that the world tries to yell at us in terms of sexuality and pleasure.

And then there's what's what the Lord says and what the world says. Seems like it screams at us more consistently and constantly than we have opportunity to listen to God's beauty for sex and sexuality. And it's significant for the heart to recognize, you know the most what is important because you are you're forming daily desires, right? And what you align your heart to will shape those desires. What you're feeding your life with will shape those desires. And learning the truth of what God says about it is important. Because even when you look in Scripture, you see some of the downfall of some of the, greatest followers of the Lord happened in this realm of sexuality and pleasure. I mean, David was referred to as a man after God's own heart. But the thing that led to David faltering was his sin with Bathsheba. Right. And if a man after God's own heart can fall victim to that, or give in to that, indulge in that temptation, we all are susceptible. So this is not this is not about throwing stones. This is not about just making you feel guilty. Let me let me be very clear in this. This is not even about moralism or religion. Sometimes. Here's here comes the temptation in talking about sex and sexuality and intimacy. Sometimes the church gets this label of saying, oh, it's bad, run away from it. No, it is not bad.

It is good. And God created it for a godly, a godly reason and purpose and lived that lived out. It can develop a much deeper experience and intimacy and relationship for which God has intended, far greater than anything this world could ever paint. So we don't want to give this idea of moralism or religion, because here's the way we could treat it. As I could say to you know, people take achievement and they do bad things with it. And so you as a, as a Christian could look at that and be like, oh, people use that for bad things, therefore it's bad. I'll run away from it. And I'm telling you, no, it is not bad. I hope that God gives you many successful things in life position, power, possession, those things. I hope as a believer, God lets you experience that in your life to leverage it for his glory to the benefit of others. So it's not for us to run away from because people might do bad things with it. It's more about learning how to align my heart according to what God says. It's to be used for that. That I would only use those things properly when my heart is completely surrendered to the Lord, then it puts the rest of my loves in perspective. It's my one true love with God that aligns my heart to the things of this world, to understand the reason for which it exists.

So I don't run away from achievement because people may use it poorly or when it comes to sexuality. The world screams at you over and over and again of things that you could do wrong in that realm, right? All those temptations you can be like, oh, that's bad. I'm just going to I'm going to live a life of celibacy. And again, I would say, no, that's not what the Lord wants. Maybe for some of us, but rather to understand the reason for which God has created it. And that does not happen unless your heart is ultimately given to the one that matters. And then he reorients and prioritizes all the other affections and love for your life through that lens of God. How can I live for your glory? And so for us, this is not about throwing stones. This is not about moralism. This is not about religion where you're like, oh man, I looked at porn again this week. I feel so bad about it. I'm going to try harder next week. That's not the point at all. You're the success of your Christian life is not about how you refrain from doing things. The success of your Christian life is measured by how you align your life towards one love, which is ultimately the Lord. And in so doing, it will prioritize the rest of the things of this world.

That's why Jesus says when he teaches us to pray in Matthew chapter six, he says, pray in this way Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Not my kingdom come, not my will be done, but rather God. How can I, how can I attune my heart to the things that you have created in this world, that I could leverage it for your glory? As I come to walk in relationship with you gave these things for a reason. God, may I use those opportunities of experiencing those things not for my glory, because it will destroy other people, but rather for yours. And so can I. Can I tell you this is not to guilt you? If you struggle with trying to find your worth and the things that you achieve if you struggle and the temptation of sex and sexuality, the challenge to you is not do better. What's wrong with you? The challenge to you is may you find your identity richly and who you are in Christ, that he may align your heart with the goodness of who he is, and therefore that you would use those things for his glory in this world. And my greatest fear in looking at a passage like this is that people would walk out and all they hear me say is religion and moralism. That is not what I want for you.

That is not what the Lord wants for you. What the Lord desires for your life is that you find freedom in him. That you understand who he is. This is what he's saying to Joseph. Joseph, whether in the mountain or the valley, the one thing that I want you to know that's always been constant is my presence with you. Because when you're when your pursuit of life becomes towards that aim, take everything else away from you in this world and who you are will never change. Because who you are is wrapped up in who he is and who he is never changes. And you see this here at the end of the story and in Genesis. well, let me just say it like this. Genesis chapter 39, verse nine, I want you to see how Joseph is doing this in verse nine. It says, he is no greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And so he's saying this passage, look, I'm not going to give in to just the idea of pleasure. The trap of pleasure for pleasure sake. There's a purpose for pleasure. And I'm reorienting that in him. Joseph's not saying I'm just trying to avoid bad things. Joseph is saying my life is about something altogether different.

I want to live for his glory. Now, part of that means you're moving away from wickedness. But it's more, more, more than just moving away. It's what he's moving towards. I'm walking with this God who's walking with me and therefore all these other things. It can take a back seat because this is what my life is about. And so because Joseph identified himself this way, he knew how to reorient the challenges that he was facing. And again, in verse 12, look at this. She caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. Because there is some times in life where you should not flee, right? To flee your makes you a coward. There are certain things in life where God has made you a minister over or responsible for, and there's a time to stand up and stand for. And then there are other times where you just got to run, right. And this is this passage. And that's what Paul says to Timothy and second Timothy. Two flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity and peace. It's about what you're making life for. And so you leave those other things behind that are going to wreck you, those wandering stars. And so in verse 12, this is what he's talking about. And he's willing to leave this garment. And I love that it uses this illustration of the garment, because this is the second time Joseph's got received a coat.

Remember, the first coat recognized who he was and prominence in his family and that got taken away from him. And here he is. He's back to a place where he is a second coat again. And you could imagine he would struggle in this moment. Man, do I need to stick around here. I have all the things that I lost. I've got it back again. I don't want to lose it again. Maybe I should just do what she says. Maybe no one will find out, right? I don't want to lose these things. But Joseph willingly set it aside and took off. And why would he do that? Only answer. It's because he found his identity in something more. He was willing to leave everything so he could hold on to this one thing. Which gave him all the value and worth that he needed, which is the Lord. Now I'm going to say, let me just paraphrase verse 13 to 20 for time's sake. But if you read verse 13 and 20, you see Potiphar's wife didn't get what she wanted. She screamed, I didn't get what I wanted, right. And then all these people come running in and they're like, what happened? And then she blames Joseph for trying to take advantage of her. Potiphar comes back, hears about it, gets angry, throws Joseph in jail.

You know what's interesting when it talks about Potiphar's anger in the story? It doesn't tell us exactly who Potiphar's angry at. It just says he's angry. And so it kind of gives the idea that he maybe not fully trust his wife. He doesn't know exactly who's to blame here, but he knows something has to be done. So he throws Joseph in jail. And some people have asked the question, why would he just throw him in jail? Why didn't he just kill him if that is what he really thought happened to his wife? And that would have been a normal response. And the reason most people think that he wasn't thrown into jail is because he didn't completely believe what his wife said, but he's he throws him in jail. And this is verse 21, I think becomes the most important section in this entire, this entire chapter, he says. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed his steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever he had done there, he was the one who did it. Now, I know this sounds like bragging for a minute, like Joseph's back to being successful again, but I can't help but think the ceiling is not very high when you're successful in this scenario.

Right? But. But God's hand of favor is there. Verse 23, the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. And I think this is important. The idea of success is different. You know, success in jail and worldly terms is not very high. But success in terms of the Lord is incredibly high. And what it's saying is he's succeeding because he's finding his identity in who God is. And guys, can I tell you a point? Number three, I don't know if I gave you this. It's this gift, the gift of knowing God. The gift of knowing God. One thing the two previous points had in common that makes them unique to this point is that in the previous two points, Potiphar's wife, what she doubted was the goodness of who God was. Any time we give in to temptation, we doubt the goodness of who God is because we're saying, I know better than God knows for me. And therefore, because we think we know better, we choose different than what God desires. When temptation comes our way, that's the struggle that we face. Do I really believe that God is good? Or do I believe that I know better? And we doubt the goodness of God and we give in to our temptations. And because of that, people suffer, including ourselves.

But for Joseph, in order for him to be successful, he had to shape his life in something completely different. Because the things of this world will come and go. But that doesn't determine who you are, or at least it shouldn't. What should determine who you are is knowing God. And I think the most powerful phrase here is found in verse 21. It says, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him, look at this steadfast love. This is unchanging love. The Hebrew word here is actually has said, this is covered gentle love. This is unconditional, unchanging, forever and always, this way love. This is the presence of who God is in his life. It's the presence of who God is. And for all of our lives that circumstances don't determine who God is. My actions don't dictate who God is. God determines who God is. And the Bible is teaching us that he's always consistent with his nature. Who he is will remain the same. Which is saying to you, when everything else in this world will fail you, the one thing that you should cling to because it will never let you down, is the goodness of who God is. So that in the mountains or in the valleys, the consistency of who you are can be discovered, because who you are has been discovered in who he is. So for us, this is not a message of morality, but rather it's a message of identity.

What do you give yourself to? Your life is being shaped by desires and where you give your heart over to your desires, and those things will change. It'll it'll start to develop your identity. But what God wants to say from the beginning of this chapter, verse 2 to 5 said it five times. And the end of this chapter is the consistency of who he is, that Joseph may find his identity in him and in so doing, truly live free, even when he finds himself as a slave. So let me let me close it. Like this. one of the seven wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China. It's actually not just a great wall. It's the great walls, really, but the Great Wall of China. over 1300 miles. It started to. It was first constructed in 700 BC or the seventh century BC, and it continued to be built for well over a thousand years. It was used for the purpose of protecting the people. They built this wall as a fortress to guard against what was warfare at the time. You know, today we could just blow that sucker up. But at that time, at that time, you could not there was not that kind of technology. So it protected the people from the enemies on the, on the outside. And sometimes it worked, but not always.

They thought they were going to build this impenetrable fortress. But if you go back in history and read, there were some people that were successful in getting through. And the way that they were successful in getting through is they discovered all they had to do was bribe the gatekeeper, and in bribing the gatekeeper, they were able to get in. And guys, it's the same for you. All kinds of temptation in this world your life can be about. But the question is what is your heart given to? Temptation wants to bribe the gatekeeper. Right? And in buying into that lie, you doubt the goodness of God. But when your heart is given over to him. That's what transforms. You can look at Joseph and say, well, God told Joseph over and over, he loved him. He loved him. He loved him. He was with him. He was with him. He was with him. But what about me? How do I know? Answer is very easy. It's the cross of Christ. That's God becoming flesh to give his life for you. Can I tell you, in all the false gods ever created in this world, there is no God more personal and true and intimate than the God of the Bible. That he would pursue you to give his life, that you could find your worth, your meaning, your purpose, your value in him.