Messianic Perspectives

Liz Ayello: In spite of human weakness, God vindicates his servants. Join us, won't you, as Pastor Al Runge uses God's word to discuss the life of Joseph. Today, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Ayello: Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives. A daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Ayello. Today, we'll look into the life of Joseph from a distinctly Messianic Jewish point of view. Our Bible teacher is Pastor Al Runge. I'll be back at the end of the message with a special offer. And now, here's Pastor Runge.

Pastor Al Runge: We've been studying the life of Joseph, who was the son of Jacob. And we have been learning a lot about human nature. For example, we have seen the functioning of Joseph's family in our first message. In our second message, we looked at human depravity. Remember, the brothers of Joseph kidnapped him and sold him into slavery to strangers. And they did not care what would happen to Joseph. He could have gone to a cruel master and suffered a terrible fate.

In our third message, we spoke of human suffering. That's caused by human depravity. Can you imagine Joseph that first night? He was a slave. He realized that he was not going home for his father's embrace. He would not be sitting down to a delicious dinner. He would not sleep securely in his own bed. Joseph had lost his freedom and he lost all his human rights.

Either he did what his new masters wanted, or he would be punished severely. He ate only what they gave him and he did what they told him. He had become just a piece of property worth what his master could get for him. And Joseph had to make a decision on how to react. Certainly, he must have wondered about those God-given dreams of future superiority over his brothers. Perhaps he was hoping that Jacob, his father, would find out what happened to him. He would pursue him and purchase him back and give him his freedom.

But Joseph did not know how his brothers had deceived his father to believe a wild beast had killed him, so there would be no rescue attempt. Joseph decided not to compromise his integrity, or his faith in God, no matter what would happen to him. He decided to make the best of his bad circumstances and to be faithful to his master, whoever he might be. He left his future up to God.

There are critics who may say, Joseph should have attempted to escape. But that would have been useless. He was in a foreign land with strict laws that protected the institution of slavery. In that ancient culture, a runaway slave would be hunted down and executed, or sent to the salt mines where he would die of exhaustion. It looked like Joseph's life was ruined by the betrayal of his brothers, but God was with him.

It was no accident that Potiphar, a member of the royal house of Pharaoh, purchased Joseph and used him as a house slave. And listen to this, that even as a slave, the Lord was with him. In Genesis 39, we're told the story. Potiphar, Joseph's master, saw that the Lord was with him and the Lord made all that he did prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him.

Then Potiphar made him overseer of his house, and all that he had, he put under his authority. So it was that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had done in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Things were turning out good for Joseph under the circumstances. He had the complete trust of his master, was elevated as the overseer of Potiphar's resources. Joseph was trustworthy because he did not give up his core value of integrity and of his trust in God.

Now, here's the truth of the matter. Even as the serpent, who is the tempter, was at work in the Garden of Eden, he was also at work in Potiphar's house. The story of Joseph's temptation and the human injustice that he suffered is found in Genesis 39, beginning with verse 6. Now, Joseph was handsome and he was a good-looking person. And it came to pass that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said to him, "Lie with me."

But Joseph refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master, your husband, does not know what is with me in the house. And he has committed all that he has in my hand. There is no one greater in this house than me, nor has he kept anything back from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

You see, Joseph understood that adultery and betrayal is an act of wickedness and sin ultimately against God. I'm sure that the tempter used all his guile to try to persuade Joseph to sin. I guess imagine him saying, "Listen, Joseph, she is your mistress. She can make your life pleasant with many gifts. And not only that, no one will ever know if you commit adultery with her."

The serpent must have said, "Why are you trusting God? Where was he when your brothers kidnapped you and sold you into slavery? Why think about God now? He doesn't think about you. Why care about your master? He has no intention of giving you your freedom. You're only his slave." And the serpent continued to tempt Joseph and said, "Listen, your master doesn't even pay you a wage. Besides, he's neglected his wife and she's yours for the taking. Do yourself a favor and give in."

I'm sure that Joseph heard every argument that the serpent could give him, but he refused to surrender his virtue. Joseph realized that he would sin not just against his human master, but against the God that he loved. You see, sin is always ultimately against God. If you give in temptation and you think you're not going to be discovered, that you can hide your sin, then you forget it. Listen to God's word in Numbers 32, verse 23. "Be sure your sin will find you out. Your sin will track you down and destroy you. What you do in secret will be published in the open."

And yes, if you're a successful pastor or leader, it will get into the news media and be broadcast around the world. Satan will make sure that your sin will be discovered in order to destroy you and to give God's enemy an occasion to blaspheme his holy name. Potiphar's wife did not give up. She was persistent. And then listen at what happened to Joseph.

In Genesis 39, verse 10, and though she spoke to Joseph every day, day by day, to seduce him, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. But one day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants were inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me." But he ran. He left his cloak in her hand. And when she saw that he had left his cloak, she ran out of the house and she called to her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed." "When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."

She kept his cloak beside her until her husband came home. Then she told him the story, a lie, but he believed her. She said, "That Hebrew slave you brought to us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." And so she had the evidence, it appeared.

When Potiphar heard her story, he burned with anger. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. You see, Joseph as a slave could not defend himself against Potiphar's wife. He would not have been believed. And you know, Potiphar could have actually executed him, but maybe in the heart of Potiphar, he had doubts about his wife's virtue. And instead of being put to death, he was put into prison. And he would have died there unknown, had it not been for God.

Potiphar's wife thought she had her revenge. She got back at Joseph for rejecting her. What she did not know was that a day was coming when her deceitfulness would be known not only in Egypt, but around the world in every generation. Joseph's story of persecution for righteousness was not only one of its kind. All through the ages, the righteous have been unfairly treated by this world. Even in our day, many believers are imprisoned in countries that will not tolerate them.

In Matthew 5, verse 11, we're told, "Blessed are you when you they revile you and persecute you and say all manners of evil against you falsely for my sake." Jesus said, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." God had a good plan for Joseph's life, a plan that would be accomplished. You know, there is a promise in the word of God that has two conditions.

In Romans 8:28, "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." So the first condition is this: loving God. Joseph loved God. If you want God to cause all things to work together for your good, let me ask you, do you really love God? Do you love his son, Jesus Christ? The second condition is that you are following God's purpose for your life, because as you follow God's purpose for your life, he has promised that he'll take all the circumstances against you and make them be for your good.

Have you ever told God you want to do his will, that you surrender your life to him and to his plan? If you do that, you can be assured that God will not only accept that offer and sacrifice from you, but he will make your life worth living. So, we have been looking at human suffering, human injustice, we've been looking at human depravity, we've been looking at human dysfunctioning. And now what we want to do is talk in our next message about human impatience. And until then, may the Lord just bless you with his peace and his grace.

Liz Ayello: Thank you, Pastor Runge, and thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Now, let me tell you about our special offer. It's the compact disc, which includes all of the programs in this current series of studies on God's plan for your life. And it can be yours for a gift of just $6 or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at MessianicSpecialties.com to place your order.

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And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Ayello. Join us next time, won't you, as Pastor Al Runge continues our series of studies on God's plan for your life, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Ayello: Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contributions of our listeners in this area.