GENESIS 39 FAITH MAKES YOU TOUGH2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Genesis 39 Faith Makes You Tough

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. As we look at Genesis chapter 39, we're looking at this account in the life of Joseph where he really begins his time of slavery there in Egypt.

And in the life of Joseph, there's so many important truths, so many ways that he sets a good example for us. Joseph is one of those guys, one of those few and rare guys recorded in the scriptures where no sin is ever mentioned or pointed out.

Now, of course, we know that Joseph did sin. He wasn't sinless or perfect in any way. But unlike David, unlike Abraham, unlike Isaac and Jacob and, you know, the guys that we've been studying along the way, where some of their noteworthy failures have been recorded for us, Joseph doesn't have any of those recorded in the scriptures. He really stands as a great example for us in so many ways.

As we look at Genesis chapter 39 this morning, I've titled the message, Faith Makes You Tough. Faith Makes You Tough. Now it's Valentine's Day, and I recognize that by wearing the red, okay? But instead of teaching a message about love this morning, the thing that the Lord put upon my heart of what we need today, an encouragement for us today is we need some tough love.

And we need to be reminded about some real truths and some good examples that are set for us by Joseph here. Joseph was a man who was steadfast and faithful in spite of all the adversity, in spite of all the things that the enemy and life threw at him. He was faithful to God throughout. We see him early in his life. He experiences some dreams from God.

And these are not just random dreams. These are dreams by which the Lord was speaking to Joseph promises about the work that God would do in his life.

And I believe that Joseph held on to those words, held on to those promises, and carried throughout this time of adversity these promises to him and endeavored to be faithful to the Lord as a result. He continued to believe God about the things that God had showed him when he was young.

As I look at the example of Joseph and the life of Joseph, I could say that I want to be this tough, right? I want to be tough like Joseph was tough and endure like Joseph endured. Now, I don't want to have to be that tough, right? I don't want to go through those kinds of situations where I have to be as tough as he is.

But I do look at him and say, man, I really want to be tough like Joseph and be able to be faithful and steadfast no matter what it is that I encounter. And it's faith that can enable us to do that. It's faith in God and trust in his word. It's faith in his promises and faith that he is in us.

charge. He's on the throne and able to fulfill his promises and to work all things together for good. And so as we think about faith and the life of Joseph here today, there's four things that I would encourage you faith enables you to do. Looking at his example here in Genesis chapter 39, the first thing that faith enables you to do, found in verses one through three, with faith you can work diligently with a good attitude. With faith you

Believing God at his word, you can work diligently with a good attitude. Looking again at verse 1, it says, Here we're jumping into the account where Joseph is sold into slavery.

And I would encourage you just to take a moment in your mind and follow Joseph's journey and try to put yourself in his place and think about what that would be like to experience what he experienced. Joseph, as he was growing up, he was the favored son of his father. And of course, that caused a little bit of contention within the rest of the brothers. But he experienced a life really of luxury.

A life of watching others work while he was, you know, protected and preserved and kept secure by his father, kept comfortable by his father. His brothers, though, hated Joseph for the way his father treated him, for the dreams that he had that he had shared with them. And so one day as Joseph is out visiting his brothers, they see him a long way off and determined to do him harm. They throw him into a pit. Here's his brothers.

His siblings, those that are meant to love him, supposed to be his family, they are betraying him in the worst way possible with every intention to kill him. They have every intention of ending his life until they see a way to make a little bit money from his life. The caravan of Ishmaelites are coming by. And so they decide, well, let's sell him into slavery.

We can make some money off of him. Why just kill him and, you know, make no money on it? We can make some money. And so they betray him again in the worst way possible. And so here's Joseph betrayed by his own family, treated so spitefully and with so much hatred and disrespect. Now he's in the custody of the Ishmaelites. Literally, he's in custody. He's chained. He's now a slave.

And the Ishmaelites carry him hundreds of miles down to Egypt. They put Joseph on display at the slave market. They show him off and say, look at this young man. He's strong. He'll be able to do a lot of work for you. Who will give me 20 pieces of silver for him? Or 30? Or 10? Or 15? You know, auctioning off Joseph. He's purchased by Potiphar. This is slavery in every sense of the word. He's purchased.

At this point, if you were in Joseph's shoes, how would you be feeling? Betrayed by your family, sold into slavery, just out of having no control of your life whatsoever any longer. It's not that Joseph was, you know, just emotionless and just experiencing this like, oh, well, you know, whatever. Life is life and things happen. Later on in Genesis chapter 42, part of today's reading actually, it says,

The brothers are recounting what took place when they put Joseph in the pit. In Genesis chapter 42 verse 21, it says, Years later, the brothers are still dealing with the guilt of what they had done and how they had treated Joseph.

And they're reflecting on the anguish of his soul. You can understand in the life of Joseph that his soul was anguished. He was pleading with his brothers. Brothers, please don't do this. Brothers, please don't treat me this way. Please don't sell me into slavery. This was not something he went into easily or nonchalantly. His soul was in anguish. And yet we go on to verse two and it says, "'The Lord was with Joseph.'"

And he was a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. In the midst of things that are really difficult for us to imagine, in the midst of a life that has so much heartache and hurt that perhaps it's hard for us to relate to, we see that God was there with Joseph. He was there with him in the midst of that adversity. And even the Lord calls him a successful man. He was a successful man.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm sold into slavery and now at work, you know, at my new master's house, I would not label myself as a successful man, right? That's not the, you don't write that book, right? 10 keys to success. And number one on the list is to be sold into slavery. That's not what we would picture as success. But Joseph was a successful man.

In the midst of his slavery, in the midst of his conditions, he was successful. I like the way that D.L. Moody puts it. He says,

The measure of success is not the absence of adversity, he says, but it's measured by the attitude that we have in the midst of adversity. Joseph was a successful man because he continued to trust God. He continued to believe God. And even though he was in these terrible conditions, he had a good attitude. He had a good attitude and he worked hard. Check out verse three.

It says, Potiphar notices this guy, Joseph. We don't know how many slaves Potiphar bought, you know, from this auction. We don't know how many other servants Potiphar had, but probably he had many because he was a high-ranking officer there in Egypt. But amongst all of his servants, amongst all of his slaves, amongst all of his household, Potiphar notices Joseph.

And something is standing out about Joseph. The things that he is doing are prosperous. It says that the Lord made all he did to prosper. I would suggest to you that this tells us that Joseph worked hard. He had a good attitude and he worked hard. It would be really tempting for you and I to look at this and say, well, you know, the Lord made him prosper. So, you know, he didn't really have to work hard.

But, you know, that's not the way that God typically works in our lives. God works in our lives often like a power tool. Power tools are great, but they don't eliminate the hardness of the work. They eliminate the effectiveness of how, you know, how much you can accomplish, but they don't take away the hardness of it. And if you don't believe me, well...

I could put you to work and give you some power tools and help you see. I learned this lesson, you know, working alongside Jeff here in the sanctuary, we had the coolest power tools, the most powerful power tools that I've ever used before. And we worked long hours. We worked hard. We sweated. You know, we worked so hard and the power tools helped, but they don't take away the hardness of the work in a similar way.

God wasn't prospering all that Joseph didn't do. He was prospering all that Joseph did. Joseph was doing things. He was working hard. He was giving energy and thought and putting himself into the work that he was doing. And the Lord came alongside of him in that way and caused it to prosper.

As we look at these first few verses, we can see that Joseph, he was tough in the midst of great adversity. And yet he was steadfast and faithful to serve the Lord. He trusted God. And that's what happens. Faith makes you tough. Faith enables you to do things that you would not think that you are able to do.

to endure things that you would not think that you're able to endure so that you can work diligently with a good attitude. And I would ask you to consider this morning where you're at in regards to your attitude and your diligence in life. Because here's the thing, unfairness is not an excuse for unfaithfulness. Many times we excuse ourselves in our workplace, in our

diligence and our faithfulness and our attitude, we excuse ourselves. We have all kinds of reasons why we are not able to be diligent or we are not able to have a good attitude. And so there we're in the workplace and we are upset and we're bitter. We're slacking off in our work. We're slacking off in the things that we're supposed to be doing in life because, you know, I was poorly treated. I

I had a bad day. You know, someone treated me unfairly. There was this injustice that happened in my life. And because of this, now I give myself permission to not be diligent. Now I give myself permission that, hey, I've been hurt really bad. And so I'm not going to have a good attitude. You know, I could imagine Joseph there in Potiphar's house saying, my brothers treated me so terribly.

Potiphar, if you're going to get anything out of me, boy, you're going to have to really squeeze it. I'm not going to do anything willingly. I'm not going to volunteer myself. I'm not going to go the extra mile. Look, life has dealt me a bad hand, and I'm just not going to put myself out there or work hard. You're going to have to force it out of me. You're going to have to whip it out of me, Potiphar. I can imagine Joseph going that direction, but he doesn't.

Instead, he holds on to the things that God has told him. He holds on to the promises that God has given to him. And he says, you know what? God has me here. I know God is with me. And so I'm going to do the best I can in the midst of this situation. Setting the example for us, you can work diligently with a good attitude no matter what your circumstances are. You can be faithful. You can be joyful. You can have faith.

Charles Spurgeon says,

but we will have what is real prosperity in the best sense. The Lord doesn't promise us that we'll have what looks like prosperity. Again, we wouldn't look at this and say, Joseph was a successful man. But the Lord looks at this and says, Joseph was a successful man. It may not be visible from the outward, but that's what faith is, right? Faith is the substance of the things which are not seen. Faith is not seen. The results of faith or the reality of faith, it's not seen, right?

And we may not see the success that the world would call this success or what even we ourselves would call success. But working diligently with a good attitude, no matter what happens in our life, that brings about for us success in the Lord's eyes, reward for faithful service unto him. Joseph was successful. He had a good attitude in spite of all that happened to him.

Faith makes you tough. Do you have faith? Or are we one of those that the Lord would look at and say, oh you of little faith. You know, the Lord told that to his disciples several times throughout his time with them. Matthew records it four different times where the Lord looks at the disciples and says, oh you of little faith. And not in a disgusted, I can't believe you guys get away from me, but

But in a loving way to say, hey, think about how little your faith is. And when you and I have a bad attitude because of what's been done to us, we are lacking in faith. And the Lord would say, oh, you of little faith, think about your faith and where you're at. When you and I are not diligent in what we've been called to in our workplace or in our home, wherever we might be, when we are unfaithful, we are lacking in faith. We are not trusting God and believing God and what he has said to us.

One of the occasions where Jesus says, oh, you of little faith, was when Jesus was walking out to the boat on the top of the Sea of Galilee. And the disciples were fearful and they thought he was a ghost. But Jesus says, no, it's me. And Peter says, well, if it's you, you know, call me to come out to meet you. And he calls him out and Peter steps out.

of the boat onto the water. He begins to walk. He's doing good for a little bit, but then it tells us he begins to see the waves. He begins to see the wind. He becomes fearful and he begins to sink. And Jesus told Peter in Matthew chapter 14, verse 31. Well, first he reaches out his hand and catches him and he says, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter saw the waves. He saw the wind and he began to doubt. And when you and I begin to doubt,

When we begin to not be diligent in our work, when we begin to not have a good attitude in the things that we are doing, our eyes are on the wind and the waves and not on the Lord. And the Lord would say, oh, you have little faith, not to condemn you and push you away, but to remind you, put your eyes back on the Lord where they need to be. You need to toughen up.

You need to be steadfast and look to the Lord and believe him and be diligent no matter where you are, no matter what your circumstances are. You need to trust God. Let faith make you tough. Increase your faith. Ask God, read the word, trust him and his promises. Well, faith makes Joseph tough. And we see that continued in verses four through nine. Here's the second thing that faith enables us to do.

When you have faith, you can be trusted when nobody is watching you. You can be trusted when nobody is watching you. Let's look at these first couple of verses. Chapter 39, verses four through six, it says this. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had, he put under his authority.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Here we find Joseph in the midst of Potiphar's house,

He's a faithful servant. And Potiphar learns that he can trust Joseph. Potiphar learns that this guy is a trustworthy guy, that he can be given responsibility and he will do well with what is entrusted to him. It tells us in verse four, Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Joseph served him. He was a slave, purchased. That was his job. He had no rights to do anything else.

But the idea that he served him speaks of beyond just doing the bare minimum just to get by, he willingly did his best for Potiphar, his master. It's not that he pretended to serve Potiphar while he plotted his escape, right? It's not that he pretended to serve Potiphar just to kind of get by and not get in trouble. But there in the midst of this situation that he would have never wanted to be in, he gives it his all.

And he serves Potiphar. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 3 that we are to behave the same way. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3 verse 23 and 24, "'Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.'"

Whatever you do, Paul says, you are to do it heartily. You're to do it with all your heart. You're to do it with everything that you have because you serve the Lord Christ. Even if what it looks like you're doing is serving Potiphar, Paul says, do it with all your heart, even though that may not be where you want to be. And that person may not deserve the service that you are giving, even though you've perhaps been treated unfairly and had all of these wrongs done to you.

Paul says, whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. You are to give yourself completely and fully unto the Lord and to work hard in the midst of whatever situation you find yourself. To be diligent and faithful. And this applies, of course, not just to the workplace, but within the home, within the church, within the community, wherever God has placed you and with whatever responsibilities God has set before you,

there is to be a wholeheartedness that is applied no matter what our circumstances are. And because Joseph served in this way, Potiphar sees what's happening. He sees the blessing that he's getting as a result of God blessing Joseph's endeavors. And so he makes him overseer, it says in verse 4, of his house. Purchased as a slave...

But now he is overseeing the house of this prestigious officer of the land of Egypt. Now, something important to consider here in verse 4 is how much time is passing in this verse? How much time is passing by as we're reading this account? We're only in verse 4 of chapter 39, right? So it could feel like there's just, you know, a few days or maybe a couple weeks that have passed. But the reality is Joseph...

When he received those dreams from the Lord was 17 years old. When he gets out of prison and is placed in charge of Egypt, he's 30 years old. So there's 13 years between where Joseph is sold into slavery, imprisoned, we'll get to that, and then later on delivered. We know at least two of those years, Joseph is in prison. So as much as 11 years, Joseph is in Potiphar's house.

Probably he was in prison longer than those two years. So let's just split it in two. Six years he was in Potiphar's house, six years he was in prison. Six years is the time that Joseph served Potiphar. Again, we're estimating, but understand what happened here was not that Joseph did one thing for Potiphar. He said, all right, go ahead, rake up these leaves. And Joseph did a great job. All right, you're in charge of my house. That's not what happened, right? What happened was Joseph was...

told to do things like slaves are told to do things. And Joseph did them heartily, wholeheartedly. And Potiphar said, wow, this guy works hard. He works good. I'm going to give him more to do. And so Joseph served more and Potiphar observed the results of that. And so Potiphar gave him more responsibility. And this cycle just continues.

He keeps on serving more. He keeps on observing what's happening. He keeps on giving more responsibility. And then Joseph keeps on serving in those responsibilities. And the results are good. And he's continuing to be faithful. And so he's given more responsibility. And the loop continues. The loop continues. It's years of faithful service, years of proven character, years of proven integrity, and years of proven diligence that brings Joseph back.

to this position of overseer of the house of Potiphar. This isn't days or weeks we're talking about. This is a long period of time of Joseph serving faithfully. And Potiphar had learned from experience that he could trust Joseph. That even if he wasn't watching him, even if he didn't have the whip on him, even if he wasn't there making sure everything was done just right, that he would come back later, he would inspect the work and find out, Joseph, you did a great job.

I didn't watch you. I didn't threaten you. I didn't force you, but you did a great job. You did it how it was supposed to be. You were faithful. And Potiphar learned that Joseph could be trusted with his responsibilities, even when nobody was watching him. Again, in verse six, it says, so thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he did not know what he had except for the bread, which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Look at the extent to which Potiphar trusted Joseph.

He didn't even know how much was in his bank account. He didn't know how many sheep or oxen he had. He didn't know how wealthy he was. He had no sense of his accounting anymore. You get the sense that prior to this, Potiphar was the one who was like, all right, okay, I know I have this much here and this much here. And I have this and he was keeping track. But under Joseph's care, he learned that he could just trust him so completely. He did not have to keep account of

of all of those things. The only thing he had to care about is, hmm, what kind of bread do I want today? Do I want rye bread? Do I want sourdough bread? Do I want bagels? What kind of bread do I want? That's all that Potiphar had to care about. What do I want to eat today? Everything else, he completely turned over to Joseph and trusted him to handle those things. Joseph proved that he could be trusted even when nobody was watching.

But we do find that there was somebody watching, don't we? It tells us at the end of verse six that he was handsome in form and appearance. And that's what makes this passage perfect for Valentine's Day, right? He was handsome, form and appearance. And Potiphar's wife, in verse seven, it tells us, "'It came to pass after these things "'that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, "'and she said, "'Lie with me.' "'But he refused and said to his master's wife, "'Look, my master does not know "'what is with me in the house.'

Joseph says something very interesting here to this proposition. He says, He's not watching. He can't see anything.

He doesn't know what it is that he has or what it is that I'm taking care of. He has trusted me completely with everything. He's given it over to me. I'm responsible for it. All that he has. He's learned he can trust me when nobody is watching. Joseph says, I'm the greatest in this house aside from him. But he has not given you to me because you're his wife.

I can't break his trust. He has trusted me this completely. He's given me this opportunity. I can't break his trust. I'm gonna be faithful to him, even if he's not watching, even if he will never find out. Joseph recognizes this is great wickedness and it is sin against God. It's a sin against God. Not just because of the sin of adultery that would be taking place, but the violation of trust

that his master had given to him. It's great wickedness. It's great wickedness to not be trustworthy when nobody is watching. It's great wickedness to compromise because you're convinced you're not going to be found out. You're not going to be caught. Joseph was faithful. He could be trusted with the resources, with the goods, with the food, with the cattle, but also with his master's wife.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, the key to Joseph's conduct was his godly character. And the basis for that character was his recognition that he belonged to God and served him. He says, look, I can't do this against God. I cannot sin against God this way. Now, again, there is many times in our lives where we, because of circumstances, because of difficulties, because of adversity, we compromise in areas of faithfulness.

And we give in to temptations like this and we're not trustworthy when nobody is watching because of our lack of faith. But here Joseph sets a standard for us. Faith makes you tough. And faith enables you to behave in such a way, to conduct yourself in a way that you can be trusted, not to take advantage of a situation, not to take advantage of someone who has entrusted to you resources or goods or people.

but that you can be trusted by the Lord and by those he's placed around you. Again, I would remind you, unfairness is not an excuse for unfaithfulness. Unfairness in your life. Listen, we live in a world that is impacted severely by sin. And there are tragedies that will be inflicted upon you. And that is never an excuse for you to then be unfaithful.

in what God has called you to, or the things that God has entrusted to you. Are you being poorly treated? Things happening to you that are unjust, not just like, you know, slightly uncomfortable, but actual crimes being committed? We'll see that happen continuing on in Joseph's life here as well. It's not an excuse for us to then compromise in the midst of suffering. Peter, in 1 Peter 3, talking about suffering says,

gives us this exhortation. He says, And he goes on to say, Having a good conscience, being trustworthy, even when nobody is watching, so that even if they bring an accusation, it's always going to be a false accusation.

And Peter says this in the midst of ministering to people who are suffering. And notice what he says. In the context of suffering, he says, look, you're going to have hope that other people aren't going to understand.

Like we look at Joseph's life and we can't understand in many ways that like, how can you behave so well? How can you have such hope? How can you have a good attitude in the midst of this? And Joseph would say, I've sanctified the Lord God in my heart. I am trusting him. He has spoken to me. He's given me promises. He is with me where I'm at. And so I'm going to be faithful to him and I'm going to have a good conscience.

I'm not gonna be trying to get away with things. I'm not trying to get back what I feel I've deserved or to make others pay and suffer for what has been done to me. I'm gonna be faithful to the Lord in the midst of it. I'm gonna have a clean conscience. It's a great example for us. Listen, we need to toughen up. We need to be trustworthy when eyes are on us and when they're not, because the reality is the eyes of the Lord are always on you. There's always eyes on you.

We always are there, as the author of Hebrews says, everything is bare and open before the one who we must give account. We have no excuse to not be trustworthy, to not be diligent in our character, in our integrity. We need to have faith. Where do you stand when it comes to this kind of faith? Would Jesus say to you, oh you of little faith? Another occasion when Jesus told his disciples this is found in Matthew chapter 6, verse

It's in that passage where the Lord is teaching us not to worry. You're worrying about what you're going to eat. You're worrying about what you're going to wear. You're worrying about tomorrow. Jesus teaches this message in Matthew chapter 6 on how we don't need to worry. He says if in verse 30 of Matthew 6, if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Will he not clothe you? Can't you trust God to clothe you and take care of your needs? When we trust God, I can settle this in my heart. My needs will be taken care of. And so I don't need to sneakily take something when nobody is looking. I don't have to be sneaky. I don't have to be manipulative. I can be trusted even if nobody is watching because I'm trusting God to take care of my needs. I'm trusting God to provide for me what I need. I'm trusting God.

Faith makes you tough. Are you tough, Christian? Are you resilient? Are you persevering? Because you trust God to provide for you. Or are you sneaky when nobody's watching? Are you trying to get away with things when you think that nobody has eyes on you, nobody's gonna find out, you're not gonna get caught? Well, we continue on in verses 10 through 12 to see Joseph continue to be tough. His faith enables him to,

Not only to be trusted when nobody is watching, not only to work hard with a good attitude, but his faith enabled Joseph to resist temptation daily. And you likewise, when you have faith in God, when you trust God, you can resist temptation daily. Check out what it says in verses 10 through 12. Genesis 39 here, verses 10 through 12. It says,

Here we see Potiphar's wife bring serious temptation to the life of Joseph. But

He is steadfast and he refuses. In verse 10, it says, she spoke to Joseph day by day, day by day. She's very blunt. She's very straightforward. She says, lie with me. She's very clear about what she wants. This would be great temptation. In fact, this temptation would be so great that it really seems like an impossible situation, doesn't it?

It really seems like it's an impossible situation for a young man to resist this temptation day by day by day by day by day for this time that he is serving there with Potiphar. Again, don't think of this in the context of, yeah, this is probably like a week-long scenario, right? There's years happening here. We don't know the specific timeframes, but this is a good amount of time. This might be happening for a couple of years, right?

It's more than a few days, probably more than a couple months. There is this persistent, ongoing opportunity to sin that makes it seem like an impossible situation. We could think it's impossible to resist this strong of a temptation. It's impossible to resist for so long. We could think that it is inevitable that this sin will be committed. And that is exactly what Satan wants you to think.

That's exactly what the enemy wants to convince you of in the midst of temptation. He wants us to have the mindset that this temptation is so strong, it's so severe, it's impossible not to give in. It's inevitable. This is going to happen. But Joseph, day by day, resists. His faith in God enables him to pull away.

from a sin that seems inevitable. In verse 10, it says that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her. And so it seems that Joseph is taking steps here to separate himself. So he's not in a vulnerable position. He won't even be around her. He's putting distance there to put himself in a position of success until one day she sets a trap. In verse 11 and 12, it tells us that there's nobody in the house. This wasn't just, you know, by happenstance.

because she's ready there to catch him by his coat. It's a trap that is set. She caught him by his garment and said, lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside. He fled temptation. He ran away in what we might consider to be impossible, inevitable. He resisted. Proverbs chapter 24, verse 10 says, "'If you faint in the day of adversity, "'your strength is small.'"

You know, so many times we look at the greatness of the temptation and we go, oh man, it was strong. It was a great temptation. But the Lord flips it around. If you faint in the day of adversity, it's not that the temptation was so great. It's that the strength was so small. Faith enables you to resist temptation daily. Faith enables you to flee because you trust God, because you believe his promises towards you.

I like what this commentary had to say. It says that Joseph was able to resist the temptation because he was convinced that God had a plan for his life and was determined to realize it. He knew that if he was to see the dreams of the sheaves and the stars fulfilled, if he was going to receive what God had in store for him, he could not sin against God. He says, I know God has plans for me. I know God has purposed things. And so I'm going to be faithful to him, his faith and his trust in what God had said.

kept him on this path of resistance to these temptations, even though it seemed impossible, even though it seemed inevitable. And listen, once again, we're talking about Joseph who had been treated so terribly, so poorly, so unfairly and unjustly in the midst of adversity. He's still a slave in the midst of this. He's not free. He's not able to go where he wants and do what he wants. And that's important for us to recognize because

Well, when we allow ourselves to settle into self-pity, we are very vulnerable to temptations to sin.

Because we've already accepted in the midst of self-pity, we're saying, God, you haven't been faithful. We're saying, God, you're not going to fulfill your promises. We're saying, God, you have failed me. And so I might as well do what I want and live how I want and get what I want and pursue what I want. I might as well because, God, you have not been faithful. But we can get into these patterns of self-pity. And listen, no matter how unjust and how hard life has been,

No matter how adverse the situation, God is still with you. He hasn't failed you. And there is no excuse for you to turn because things are hard or difficult or painful and pursue sin. The author of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 3 and 4, he says, "...consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, you have not yet resisted to bloodshed and striving against sin."

That's a striking statement. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed in your fight against sin. We can be really impressed with how well we've resisted temptation, right? But you haven't resisted to bloodshed yet, he says. It hasn't cost you your life yet, your resistance to temptation. And we can become really discouraged and weary in resisting temptation. So the author of Hebrews says, remember Jesus who endured such hostility. Remember what he went through.

He set the example for you and he's with you to help you in the midst of it. Don't give in. Don't let those lies of the enemy deceive you. You've not yet resisted to bloodshed. Christians, we need to toughen up. We give in to sin way too easily. We allow that self-pity. We allow the circumstances to excuse us and to give in to the temptations that the enemy presents to us. We need to toughen up.

We need to believe God and trust God and his plans for us and be faithful to him. Where do you stand when it comes to this kind of faith? Would Jesus look at you and say, oh, you of little faith? In Matthew chapter eight, we see another occasion where the disciples are with Jesus in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and the storm comes upon them. Jesus is sleeping in the boat, but the disciples, they are fearful of their lives. They awake him and they say, look, we're gonna die, Jesus. And Jesus says, oh, you,

of little faith. He rebukes the wind. He rebukes the waves. And there was a great calm. They felt hopeless. And that's the way the enemy wants you to feel in the midst of temptation. He wants you to feel hopeless. You have to go down that path. There's no other way. You're just hopeless. You have to feel that way. There's no other option. There's no other choice. It's inevitable. You might as well give in now. Why fight it and be miserable? Just enjoy that pity party.

He wants you to feel like it's hopeless. He wants you to feel like it's certain that there is no escape. And Jesus says, oh, you have little faith. Don't give into that. Don't be tricked by that. No, God still has good for you. He still has plans for you. He's still able to provide for you. Well, we're gonna finish it up in verses 19 through 23 for the fourth point this morning. The fourth thing that faith can enable you to do when you have faith is

you can start over after unfair treatment. When you have faith, you can start over again from the very beginning, going back to the top, point number one, and working your way down. Check out verse 19 here in Genesis chapter 39. Verse 19, it says, So it was when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me after this manner that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him.

Joseph, at this point, might feel like his life is on a bit of a loop. It's on repeat and he doesn't like the cycle. Here he finds himself confined again. He was in the pit after his brothers threw him in there. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Now he's sold into prison by this false accusation.

Potiphar's wife. Joseph, he can't catch a break. It's unfairness after unfairness, injustice after injustice, false accusations now. Although things weren't great before, he was a slave and sold into slavery in this way. Now it gets worse. Now he's a slave in prison. More confinement, more restriction, less freedom. But it tells us in verse 21,

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph. God has promised he will not leave or forsake us. He's with Joseph. He's always working on Joseph's behalf and on your behalf to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose, Romans 8, 28 tells us. But here is Joseph kind of back to square one. And again, just kind of,

living out a little bit the things that most Joseph must have been experiencing. He worked so hard to have a good attitude and to be diligent there as a slave to Potiphar. And it blessed him, right? He gained position and probably a lot of flexibility in his life. And here he is now bound and imprisoned again.

It must feel like all of those years had been wasted and he's back to square one there now in a prison cell. But then verse 22 tells us, Again, I would wonder how much time is passing in this verse. We know Joseph is in prison for at least two years.

Because, well, in the next chapter, he interprets the dreams of two prisoners and he tells them, hey, when you get out and things go well with you, remember me. And two years pass and that prisoner forgets all about Joseph. So we know there's two years after this point that Joseph is in prison. How long is he in prison up into verse 22? We don't know. But it could be months. It could be years. Again, just splitting it in half, it's possible he served Potiphar for about six years and

was in prison for about six years. He didn't rise to this level of responsibility in the prison on the first day that, okay, he's in prison and now the prisoner, you know, the captain says, okay, prisoner number one, you know, I'm going to put you in charge and you're responsible for everything. No, what happened was Joseph is in prison and he starts over. He works diligently and he has a good attitude in prison. And the prison guard recognizes, hey, this guy is trustworthy. He's faithful. He's

And so he gives him opportunity to be productive there in the midst of prison. And he observes the results and it's good results. And so he gives Joseph more responsibility and Joseph serves in that and has a good attitude and works hard and is faithful even when nobody is watching. And the prison guard observes and gives Joseph more responsibility. It's again, years of faithful service that we're probably talking about. Years of proven character, years of proven integrity, years of proven diligence, right?

Like I said at the beginning, I want to be this tough, but I do not want to have to go through conditions that require this kind of toughness. But here is Joseph, man. He is tough. His faith in God is resilient. He is persevering under incredible difficulties. And he's just being faithful. Okay, we're starting from square one. All right, I'll work hard. I'll be diligent. I'll be faithful.

I'll be trustworthy, I'll have a good attitude, and I'll do my best for the Lord in the midst of the situation that I am in. Stephen, later on in the book of Acts, as he is about to be martyred, recounts the history of Joseph. And I found it interesting. In Acts chapter 7, verse 9 and 10, Stephen says this, "'The patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles.'"

In describing the history of Joseph, he says, I wonder if that's how Joseph would have described it there in prison, right? Is that how you would describe it?

They're like, hey, Jonathan, man, I heard you got fired. And then your dog bit you, and then your washer broke, and then you had a flat tire. And Jonathan says, yeah, God delivered me out of all my troubles, man. It's so great. It's like, well, it doesn't make sense. God delivered him out of all his troubles. We understand, as you read on, later on, Joseph is delivered from prison. And God uses him mightily to save many people. But in the midst of it, it doesn't look like deliverance.

And that's why we must have faith. We must trust God, even if we're having to start over. Even if it's like, man, I worked my whole life, you know, for this nest egg, and then now that's all gone, and I have to go back to work and start over. You must trust God. Losing everything, starting over from square one, it's not an excuse for unfaithfulness. It's not a reason for us to give up in our character, in our integrity, in our relationship with the Lord.

Faith enables you to start over even when you've been treated unfairly, even when everything has been stripped away. Is that the kind of faith that you have? Or would Jesus look and say, oh you of little faith. The last occurrence of this with Jesus and his disciples with Matthew chapter 16. Again, they're on the boat, they're headed across Galilee and the disciples are fretting because they didn't bring any bread.

And Jesus understands what's happening, understands what they're worried about. And he says, oh, you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? He goes on to say, look, how many baskets of bread did you gather after we fed the 5,000? How many baskets of bread left over did you gather after we fed the 4,000? Why have you forgotten already and you're stressed about bread?

You know, so many times we forget about the ways that God has worked previously. And in those times where we feel like we're having to start over and we're back at square one, it's easy to forget about those times that God has provided previously. And the Lord says, oh, you have little faith. Remember, I've worked this way in your life before and I will work in this way in your life again. You can trust me. Faith makes you tough. It enables you

to work diligently with a good attitude. And you can be trusted even when nobody is watching you. You can resist temptation even when it's daily and seems impossible to resist. And you can start over. Start from scratch, start from square one, even after you've been treated unfairly and unjustly because faith rests not in your circumstances, rests not in your achievements, rests not in your outward successes,

but it rests in God who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what you could ever ask or think. I want to be this tough. I don't want to have to be this tough, but no matter what I face in life, I can understand I can be tough enough to face the adversity, the hurt, the heartache, the pain, the affliction, whatever comes our way. We can trust God. We can increase our faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Paul tells us in Romans. Spend time with God and his word. It will increase your faith because you'll learn more about who God is and the way that he works and how much you can trust him. Increase your faith by asking God. Invite God to increase your faith. So work in your life to help you to trust him. Determine to trust God no matter what you see, no matter what happens in your life. We can trust God. And when we do,

Faith makes us tough. Let's be tough Christians, resilient, those who persevere, believing God at his word, no matter what we face in this life. Let's pray. Lord, this morning, we thank you for some tough love. Lord, some tough reminders, but reminders that we need so that we would be tough Christians. Lord, those who believe you,

And we don't live based on what we see. And we don't behave and determine our attitude based on what we see or what's been done to us. But Lord, we live, we work, we govern ourselves according to who you are, what you have declared and what you have promised to us. Help us, God, to trust you to this degree, Lord, that we might know you and walk with you. And Lord, that we might be a great witness and testimony, just like Joseph was to those around him.

I pray, God, that you would strengthen us, harden us. Lord, in regards to you, we want to have soft hearts. But in regards to this world, Lord, we want to be hard and tough, not moved by circumstances or adversity. Lord, that we would grasp hold of you and never let go. Help us, Lord. We need your strength in this. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.