"Examples of Faith – Joseph: The Integrity of Faith" Hebrews 11:22 & Genesis 39-41
- Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on November 19, 2023.
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Audio Transcript
And turn to Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue with examples of faith. And today again we are looking at Joseph and the title is the integrity of faith. And we go to our verse in Hebrews 11:22 where we read by faith. Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones. May we pray?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the message of your word that you’ve given us so much information. You’ve shown us our need for salvation because of our sin. And you’ve shown us how you provided the way that we could not find ourself through Jesus death and burial and resurrection. That he died in our place, Father, that he gave up his body and he shed his blood to take the penalty for our sin so that we can have a right relationship with you. And we thank you that we get to celebrate that today in the Lord’s Supper.
We thank you also that your Word shows us how to live. And as we look at the life of Joseph today and we see his example of integrity, we ask that you would touch our hearts and burden us that we would want to be people of integrity. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We know that Joseph had faith by the declaration of the New Testament tells us here that Joseph had faith because it’s there.
We know that for certain. And it tells us here that his faith continued to the end of his life. And he even left faithful instructions about what was to happen with his bones.
At this time, everything was favorable for the Jews in Egypt. Joseph had come down and he had provided the means to help everyone through the famine. He was the hero for the past seven years and everybody loved his family and he was given the best life land. It would have appeared to everybody that the Jews could just remain happily forever after there in Egypt. But Joseph knew that God had made a promise.
And he knew by faith that God one day was going to keep that promise and return his family to the land that God had promised to them. You know, at this time, his brothers and his family, they might have questioned his belief. Well, why aren’t we going to stay in Egypt? Everything is wonderful here. We have leeks and onions.
Doesn’t that sound great?
It’s paradise. Why not stay here? Why are you talking about dying and taking your bones back there?
Why did Joseph want his bones moved? What difference was that really going to make? Well, Joseph was a man of faith and there are many things that we can learn from his life. And you need to read the story if you’ve been in our Old Testament reading plan this year. You’ve read about him.
But so much of the book of Genesis is dedicated to Joseph that it’s important that we learn from him. There’s one overriding characteristic that we’re going to look at today and that’s that one of the results of faith in his life is that that he had integrity. And it’s only because of his faith in an all powerful, all knowing, loving and gracious God that he could have kept himself on track through each of the episodes in his life that we want to look at briefly today and believe he had episodes in his life. Let’s just think about you, whatever your worst difficulty is in life. Difficult.
Did your brothers throw you into a pit and leave you for dead? Oh, we heard somebody had that happen. Did your family sell you into slavery to another country? Were you enslaved in a household? Were you placed in prison and falsely accused?
I mean, there’s some pretty serious things that happened to him. But in all of this he kept his integrity. And it’s not because he was able to do it in his own strength. We’re going to see in the text. It’s because God was with him and he believed in God.
What is integrity? The definition of it says that it is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It’s other words, moral uprightness. And I will add that in order for it to be true, integrity, this honesty and living a life of strong moral principles has to be all the time. It can’t just be on Sundays, it can’t just be on every other day.
But a person with integrity is going to have integrity all the time. The second thing I want to add there is that they even have integrity when no one is looking, when no one’s around, that person is going to have integrity in what they read and what they look at, what they do, what they say and what they talk about all the time when no one is looking. And lastly, even when it means that it will cost you dearly, a person of integrity and being honest and having strong moral principles will continue in that. And we’re going to see it in Joseph’s life continue even if it means that it’s going to hurt them, if it’s going to cost them. Let’s go back to Genesis 39 and we’re in verses one through six.
We’re going to kind of skim through these different episodes in the life of Joseph. He had been in the pit, he had been sold into slavery, he was taken to a New land in Egypt. And an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. And it tells us in verse two, and this is the key, say it with me. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
Here in Potiphar’s house. The Lord was with Joseph. What you will see here today is that God is with the faithful. God is with the faithful. You know, from an earthly perspective, Joseph was really all alone.
His father was not with him. His mother was not with him. None of his family were with him. None of his neighbors were with him, none of his friends. He was in a new place according to worldly standards, all alone.
But Scripture tells us that’s not the truth. He was not alone because the Lord was with him. We also know from Scripture that he was a handsome man. He was intelligent. He had everything going for him.
He probably could have been a movie star. He could have been a politician. He could have been a great leader. He could have remade himself to be whatever he needed to be in this new place. He could have chosen to forsake what he had been and become whatever would benefit him most.
In Egypt. The only example I can think in my life is when I was growing up. They called me Robbie. Okay? I was all I was Robbie all the way through sixth grade.
And my brothers and sisters will call me that. But when I went to the new junior high school in seventh grade, had a new place, didn’t bring anybody with me, and I could become the person that I wanted to be. And I became Robert. All right? And that’s how you know me.
So I reinvented myself. And it was just a small thing, but Joseph could have done that in a much higher way here. But his integrity required him to continue to be obedient to God. Remember, the integrity is a quality of being honest and having strong moral principles even when we are what? When we are alone.
Because we’re really not alone. God is with us. God is watching us. God was with him, and God was watching him. And most importantly, God was giving him the strength to live in this strange place without anybody that he knew.
God alone strengthened him to continue to have integrity.
Not only was God with him when he was at Potiphar’s house, But in verse 21, it says the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden. We have this phrase. And when things are repeated in God’s word. That’s where the emphasis is.
It’s just like with your kids. If you want them to brush your teeth, you only have to tell them once and they’ll remember the rest of your life. Right now, you tell them over and over again. So it is when we see God repeating things. God was with Joseph in the pit.
God was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house. God was with Joseph in the prison. In each situation that Joseph faced, Scripture gives us the key to his integrity and the key to his success. You say it with me. God was what with him.
God gives us this promise in Isaiah 41:10. Do not fear. He could have been fearful. The answer to that. God says, for I am with you.
God repeats himself. He says, do not be afraid. Joseph certainly could have been afraid. But he tells us in Isaiah, for I am your God. Isaiah says, I will strengthen you.
I will help you. I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand. It is God’s promise that he is with the faithful. God is with us in whatever situation we find ourselves. There may be no one else around.
And we may be in a place where no one will know what we are doing, or in a place where no one will know what we are saying. But people of faith in those situations will continue to be honest and live righteously. Genesis 39, verses 1 through 6. What we see here is that God’s presence is evident in the faithful. So not only is God with us, but others are going to see that God is with us.
Now, Joseph had been taken to Egypt, the Egyptian named Potiphar, and so on. We read, and it comes down to verse two, that the Lord was with Joseph. He became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. That’s what we saw. But then this next verse says, when his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful.
This is a heathen man that worships other gods. But he recognized that there was something different about Joseph. He saw that the Lord Almighty was with him. And he saw that the Lord, not Joseph, but the Lord, made everything he did successful. You know, God’s presence is evident in the faithful.
And if we are followers of him, his presence should be evident in our life. That’s what we call our testimony. That we let people know with our words and our deeds what God has done for us and what he continues to do in our life. Joseph was not the only one aware of God’s presence in his life. The ungodly noticed it too.
We have to ask ourselves the question, do your worldly acquaintances seek God with you? They will see that you are different and God is with you if you are a person of integrity. Verse 4 Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptians house because of Joseph.
The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned in his house and in his fields. He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority and he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Can you imagine just handing everything about your life over to a strange young man that doesn’t speak your language from another country? Doesn’t that seem kind of odd? He did it because of his integrity and he saw that God was with him.
Integrity is not only a blessing to us, but it is supposed to be a blessing to others in our life. Integrity is a blessing to others. As Christians we should be the best workers. In other words, that we should bless everyone at our job. Christians should be the best friends.
We should be a blessing to everyone that we associate with. Christians should be the best neighbors. Christians should be the best family members. We are supposed to be a blessing to everyone. And when we live a life of integrity and faith in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, people are going to see something in us and they’re going to give credit to him, to God alone that we are providing a blessing for them.
The next thing that we see in Joseph life about integrity is that integrity is steadfast under pressure. Integrity is steadfast under pressure. Genesis 39:8 12 the backstory here is that Potiphar had a wife and she thought that Joseph was a very handsome young man and she had desires to be with him in an inappropriate way.
But Joseph refused every time she made an advance to him. In verse 8 look with me here. My master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.
So how could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God? Then it goes on to say that although she spoke to Joseph not just once, but day after day after day, he continually refused to go to bed with her. And now one day came about that he went into the house to do his work and none of the household servants were there. In everybody else’s eyes, he was all alone. But because he had faith in God, we know he wasn’t alone.
God was with him. The wife grabbed him by his garment and said, sleep with me. But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. Joseph was under all types of pressure that day, but what did he do? He remained steadfast.
He fled the situation. And it was by God’s strength, by God’s presence, and by his faith in God alone that allowed him to do that, to be a person of integrity. Verses 16 through 20 tells us that she put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home. Joseph’s the good guy in the story. He should be rewarded, should he not?
But that’s not what happens here. She told him the same story that she had told her servants. The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me. But when I screamed for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside. And when his master heard the story, his wife told him, these are the things your slave did to me.
He was furious and had him thrown into prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison. But we see here that integrity is willing to suffer. Integrity is not always rewarded in this life. But we don’t, as Christians, base our decisions on what we do and what we say, on whether or not we’re going to have good consequences or bad consequences.
A person of integrity is willing to suffer if that is required for remaining a person of integrity. I want to Read from Psalm 15, verses 1 through 5. Lord, who can dwell in your tent, who can live on your holy mountain? The one who lives blamelessly practices righteousness and acknowledges the truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, who does not harm his friend or discredit his neighbor, is someone who despises those who are rejected by the Lord. In other words, those that are sinful.
And he honors those who fear the Lord. And here’s what I want you to see is the key. This same person is the one who keeps his word, whatever the cost. A person of integrity is willing to suffer whatever loss there is to remain a person of integrity. A person of integrity will make a promise to do something tomorrow.
And then if they find out that it’s going to interfere with their golf game, they’re going to say, I can’t play golf because I’m a person of integrity. I made a promise. A person of integrity is going to say, yeah, I’ll take you out and provide for that need financially. And then you get there and you find out, wow, it’s thousands of dollars more than you thought. So you back off and say, well, you know, I promised you, but I don’t have that much money.
A person of integrity is going to hurt in their pocket. In order to remain true to their word. A person of integrity is going to be willing to suffer the consequences to go through the inconvenience of being a person of integrity.
Verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and he granted him favor now with the prison warden. The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there. And the warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority because the Lord again was with him. And the Lord made everything that he did successful.
In Potiphar’s house, it was unusual that he was given everything to take care of. But now we have the inmates running the prison. What happens when you let the inmates run the prison? It’s probably not going to be a good situation, but that’s the situation here. Because Joseph was a man of integrity.
He had faith. And the prison warden saw that in him, God is with the faithful. Integrity becomes a blessing to others. And others see God in our lives. Now we come to Genesis, chapter 40, verses 40, 16 through 19.
We’re just skipping through. And now Joseph is in a new situation.
There are two authority figures that Pharaoh was not happy with. One was the cupbearer, and the other was the chief baker. They had been thrown into prison for some reason, and they both had a dream. And the cupbearer came to Joseph with his dream before what we’re going to read here. And Joseph said, in three days your job is going to be restored.
Pharaoh’s going to love you. Everything’s going to be wonderful for your life. And there we see that the chief baker, when he saw that the interpretation was positive, he also shares his dream with Joseph. In other words, wow, if the cupbearer gets to go back, I sure hope that I’m going to have a good interpretation of my dream.
He said, I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head. In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head. Joseph could have said, well, I don’t know the meaning of your dream, or he could have given some positive spin on it. But what we see here is that integrity speaks the truth, even if the truth hurts, because what he tells the baker is not positive.
He said, the three baskets are three days. In just three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you and hang you on a tree, and then the birds will eat the flesh from your body. Very welcoming news. I mean, you would just love to share that with someone. You know, you’re at Starbucks and they walk up and they tell you this dream, and they say, what do you think it means?
And you say, you’re gonna have a car crash when you leave here. You know, your body’s gonna be torn into a million pieces, and the birds are gonna eat your body before EMS can get there. Whatever it is, you would tend just to zip your lip because you wouldn’t want to hurt them. But Joseph is also trying to get out of prison. Don’t you think when you want to be getting out of prison, I mean, is telling bad news to somebody that’s going to possibly go back before Pharaoh the right thing to do?
It was in Joseph’s case because he was a man of integrity. He spoke the truth, even when the truth hurts. Psalm 119, 43. The Psalmist prays, enable me to speak the truth at all times, because my hope is in your judgments. It’s only by God’s grace and power that we can speak the truth.
And the psalmist recognized that, and he prayed for it. Ephesians 4:25 says, Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor. But the qualifier here is that we speak the truth in love. Let us grow in every way into him who is the head. According to Ephesians 4:15, people of integrity speak the truth.
Make sure you’re speaking it in love when you share it, even if it’s something that’s hard and difficult.
Genesis 41, 15, 16. Finally, the cupbearer remembers Joseph in prison. You would think. Think that he would remember them sooner. And I’m sure Joseph wondered for a long time.
But it comes about that Pharaoh had a dream, and he couldn’t find anybody to interpret it. And all of a sudden, ding, ding, ding. The cupbearer says, well, I remember this guy. He was able to interpret my dream. So Pharaoh brings Joseph out of prison.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and. And no one can interpret it. None of his wise men, none of his priests, none of his advisors, not his wife, not his children. He’s had these dreams, and he wants to know what they mean. And he says to Joseph, I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.
Pharaoh had no idea how Joseph had this ability to interpret dreams. He thought it was all about who, all about Joseph, what he could do. But Joseph is a person of integrity. And integrity always gives credit to God and others. Joseph answered, I am not able to.
I’m guessing that Pharaoh kind of had his feathers ruffled. What do you mean you’re not able to? Is it because of me or whatever? But quickly Joseph answered pharaoh again. He said, it is God.
I am not able to. But it is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. In Matthew 5:16 we read in the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works. And the verse doesn’t say and give glory to you, but it says that others will see your good works and and give glory to your Father in heaven. Joseph could have bragged about his successes.
Joseph could have bragged about his ability to interpret dreams. He could have been there like he was presenting his resume. This is everything that’s wonderful about me. You need to hire me. But that’s not what he does.
He gives credit to God where God’s credit is deserved.
He goes on to tell Pharaoh what his dream means. They’re going to have seven years of famine. And they’re going to have, I mean seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine. And then he says, let Pharaoh do this. Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
Let them gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. And under Pharaoh’s authority, store the grain in the cities so they may preserve it as food. The food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt. And then the country will not be wiped out by the famine. Not only did Joseph have the interpretation to the dream, he knew immediately what to do.
Imagine our government trying to figure out what to do to prepare for seven years of famine. Do you think that they would have a plan on the spot like this? Probably. You have a lot of faith. It’s in the wrong place.
So here you have Joseph. He could have made himself look good. He could have said, hey, I’ve got the plan. You’ve seen I can interpret dreams. You need to put me in charge here, buddy, and let me take care of this and I will handle it all.
Does that not seem reasonable? But Joseph didn’t do that because integrity is not self serving. He Said to Pharaoh, let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. He didn’t say, look at me. He didn’t say, I’m available for the job.
He said, this is what Pharaoh needs to find. Joseph was not seeking notoriety for himself, though we find in the following verses that integrity will be rewarded. Now, it’s not always rewarded in this life. It may be, and it will be rewarded in heaven. I would much rather be rewarded by God than be by any earthly person.
It says that the proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And he said to them, can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him? So Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you again, who’s getting the credit? It’s God. In the eyes of this heathen king, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
You are. You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I as king will be greater than you. Pharaoh then said to Joseph, see, I’m placing you over all the land of Egypt. He removed his signet ring from his hand and he put it on Joseph’s hand.
That ring, if he stamped it on something, meant that somebody’s head could be chopped, somebody’s house could be bulldozed. He had power over everyone and everything because he was rewarded for his integrity. Not only that, but they clothed him with fine linen garments, they placed a gold chain around his neck, and he had Joseph ride in his second chariot. The servants called out before him, make way. So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission. Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath Paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt, rewarded for his integrity, rewarded for his faith that he had placed in God. And rewarded because God was doing all of this for him. Integrity, it’s the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
It’s moral uprightness. We’re left with a number of questions here today. And I would just ask, as I read over them, that you ask God to point one of these out to you, that you can pray that God will help you to be a person of integrity and answer to this question. The first one. Is God’s presence evident in your life?
Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ and him alone, knowing that you can’t give enough, you can’t do enough, you can’t work enough, you can’t attend church enough in order to have a right relationship with God, you can’t do anything to get rid of the problem of sin, sin that you have in your life. Instead, you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ and say, God, I want your son to live in me and let him take care of my sin problems so that I can have a right relationship with you. Is God’s presence evident in your life? If it’s not evident to you, then you need to talk to someone today here at the church, me or Hunter or someone else. Is your life a blessing to others?
When you go into work each day or when you go to visit your family at Thanksgiving, do they say, wow, we’re so glad Susie Q. Is here today. She’s a believer and it’s such a blessing to have her around. Do people at your work look forward to you coming into work because they just sense that you’re a blessing to be around? Do your friends and your neighbors feel that way?
Is your life a blessing to others? Third question. Are your convictions steadfast under pressure? Do you toe the line and just keep going on with what you know is right every single time, even when you’re under the most intense pressure? Have you ever been thrown in a pit?
Have you ever been a slave? Have you ever been in jail? I mean, Joseph had an awful time. He sets the example for us to continue in integrity and faith. Are you willing to suffer for what is right?
When you make a promise, do you keep it even if it cost you more than you realized or thought that it might? Do you speak the truth even if it hurts to people that you love and people that you don’t love? Or do you. You change it around or you hide it because you know it’s going to affect you or them in a negative way? Do you give credit to God and others when people compliment you?
Do you recognize that any gift that you have or any wise words that you speak or anything you do or money that you give or service that you offer, it’s all because God has given it to you. It’s not because of your own credit.
Do you live as to serve others instead of serving yourselves? That’s what the life of integrity does. That’s what Jesus Christ did for us. He came to serve us. And lastly, are you patient in waiting for an eternal reward?
Many people are rewarded for their integrity in this world. And there’s less and less of it. But ultimately, our best reward is going to be the reward that we receive from God in heaven when he says, you have lived a life of integrity. Maybe you’ve not lived that life up until this moment, but I encourage you, ask God to help you to be that way in the days ahead, starting today. Look over this list.
Which one of these things, which two things are you going to pray that God will help you with and start to work on that, that you might be a person of integrity? We’re coming to the close of our service now, today for this part. But now we’re going to have the wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ died on the cross for his sin, our sins, and he shed his blood. And that’s what we have before us today.
We have the bread that represents his body that was beaten and bruised and hung on a tree. And we have the juice that represents his blood that he shed on the cross for us. And that’s very important because scripture says God says that there is no forgiveness of sins unless someone’s blood is shed. Jesus did that for you so that you don’t have to do it for yourself. So we look back to his death on the cross, his burial and resurrection.
But we also look forward to, to the time that he’s going to return. Because Jesus said, I’m not going to partake of this supper until I return to take you to be with me. And it’s going to be a joyous occasion. It’s going to be like this Thanksgiving meal that’s been put off for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. And finally all of your family gets together much more glorious than that in heaven.