JOSEPH: Favor/Purpose: The Ultimate Attack
(Genesis 39:1-21) Genesis 39:6–8 (ESV) So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused.
Joseph Was Distinctive: The Favor/Purpose Of The Father Was Tangible
His Coat (Favor): Genesis 37:3–4 (ESV) Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
His Dream (Purpose): Genesis 37:10–11 (ESV) But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Joseph is in prison because of his coat and his dream
Joseph is in prison because of the touch of the father, and the calling of the father.
They were jealous - the same touch/favor were available to them as well.
His brothers destroyed the coat to remove the father’s touch and sold him to remove the father’s calling
Genesis 37:10–11 (ESV) But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
The Father’s Favor And Purpose Remained - Genesis 39:2–5 (ESV) 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 that the LORD caused 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 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 on all that he had, in house and field.
Favor Attacked By A SUBSTITUTE For God’s Gift Of SEX
Genesis 39:7–8 (ESV) 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,
This is an iconic crossroads in life, desiring to pull you out of alignment with God’s favor.
At first glance, it’s just sex.
Physical
Natural desires
Companionship - I’m all alone (hard to marry-slave)
Physical escape from difficulty circumstances
Emotional
Being wanted by someone attractive/powerful
Reward for the unfair trial
Entitlement - deserved for accomplishments
Gateway to life goals.
For all these reasons, the average person gives in.
He’s already a physical slave, but an emotional/spiritual slavery is attempting to take over.
From 30,000 ft up, this is a bigger attack on favor/calling than his brothers.
No issue will ever challenge favor like your sexuality.
Sexuality is the #1 test you will every face
Unavoidable experiences in childhood
Poor decisions during youth
Unknown doors opened in the spiritual realm
1 Corinthians 6:15–19 (ESV) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or 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.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 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,
It’s why so many children are attacked at a young age.
Pollute a person’s sexuality, and the impact is massive.
No Issue Will Challenge Favor Like Your Sexuality
It will take an and pollute a mile.
Adultery (Sexual relations with a married person)
Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Matthew 5:27–28; Proverbs 6:32.
Fornication / Sexual Immorality (A broad term—Greek porneia—covering sex outside of marriage)
1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Galatians 5:19; Hebrews 13:4.
Incest (Sexual relations with close relatives)
Leviticus 18:6–18; Leviticus 20:11–12, 14, 17, 19–21; 1 Corinthians 5:1.
Homosexual Acts (Same-sex sexual activity)
Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10.
Bestiality (Sexual relations with animals)
Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 18:23; Leviticus 20:15–16; Deuteronomy 27:21.
Prostitution (Engaging in or soliciting sexual services for hire)
Leviticus 19:29; Deuteronomy 23:17–18; 1 Corinthians 6:15–16.
Rape / Sexual Assault
Deuteronomy 22:25–27; Genesis 34:1–7.
Effeminacy / Cross-Dressing (Cultural expressions of gender subversion in a sexual/moral context)
Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9 (specifically the term malakoi in some translations).
Lust (Cultivating sexual desire for someone not one's spouse)
Matthew 5:28; Job 31:1; 1 John 2:16.
Sensuality / Lasciviousness (Lack of restraint; promoting lewdness)
Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; Jude 1:4.
Impurity / Uncleanness (Moral or ritual defilement related to sexual conduct)
Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:3; Romans 1:24.
Seduction of a Virgin (Sex with an unbetrothed woman)
Exodus 22:16–17; Deuteronomy 22:28–29.
Cult Prostitution (Sexual acts as part of pagan worship)
1 Kings 14:24; 2 Kings 23:7; Hosea 4:14.
The Beauty Of Sex - (8) We believe that Christian marriage was established by God, confirmed by Jesus, and is between a man and a woman. We believe that sex is a gift from God designed for intimacy and procreation within marriage.
Created by God - Matthew 19:4–6 (ESV) He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
For Companionship/Unity/Intamacy
Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Matthew 19:5–6: "...and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
For Pleasure/Protection
1 Corinthians 7:5: "Do not deprive one another... so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."
1 Corinthians 7:2: "But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband."
For Pro-Creation (no more reflective of God than when you have kids)
Genesis 1:28: "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it...'"
Psalm 127:3–5 (ESV) Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Between
Recapture Your Sexuality. Recapture Your Alignment For Favor/Purpose
Ephesians 5:3 (NIV) But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
CONFESS - homologeō
Homos - same
Logos - word or speak
To speak the same thing. To agree with Scripture/GOD
CLEANSE - katharos
To be made pure, clean, or unstained