Joseph: Being A Just Man

1 Integrity, truthfulness, trust, reliability, honor,

Integrity, truthfulness, trust, reliability, honor, and moral uprightness are commodities that are in short supply in the lives of many people within and without the church. At one time, a person’s word was his bond. Value and importance were greatly placed on one’s word because their word represented how others saw and thought of them. If a debt was owed and you promised to pay the debt by a given time, failure to do so would harm your character. If a son or daughter promised mom and dad to be home by a certain time, they did so to gain more trust from their parents. A good young man would never pressure his girlfriend or make her feel guilty for not having sex with him. Those kinds of days vanished generations ago; it seems. Many people held those moral and spiritual values for their lives and some still do. They are not in the majority, and they are not always very popular. How do we value our integrity, character, our reputation, and testimony?

2 However Joseph

However, Joseph was not your typical young man. He was upset by the news of Mary’s pregnancy. He did not know what to think. He did not trust his own feelings. He did not know how to respond. But he did not respond in the typical way that most young men would have responded. He needed time to think about his options and, being a just man, he needed time to consider what God’s law said. So, he lay on his bed and asked himself a million questions. He mulled over in his heart his options and the best course of action for himself and for Mary. Joseph did so because he really loved Mary. Her unfaithfulness (supposed unfaithfulness) to him might have hurt him and would bring some shame to him, but he did not want to do the same to her. He was a just man. 

Joseph was a just man. And Mary was a faithful woman who was highly favored by God and was blessed “among women” (Lk. 1:28-30). Those were no mean characteristics given by Gabriel about her either. She was as just a woman as Joseph was found to be a just man. 

Let’s then consider this statement, “Joseph…being a just man.” What can we learn from it?

The first obvious truth to see is the description of Joseph by God: “a just man.” That was the Lord’s description of this man. Matthew wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but he probably never met Joseph. Joseph had relocated from Bethlehem to Nazareth at some point in his life and Matthew was of Jerusalem. The only disciple who possibly had some intimate connection to Joseph was John who was a cousin to Jesus. Again, that is only a possibility, And, John, never mentioned any of the familiar birth events, the appearance of Gabriel, the message he delivered, the heavenly host, the vision of Joseph, nor the character of Joseph in his gospel. Matthew, the publican, was given that privilege. 

3 The word just denotes

The word just denotes a state or condition of being righteous, right behavior, how one conducts themselves, and how one is judged either by human or divine standards. Although Joseph was a young man, his peers could not point an accusing finger at him about his morality or integrity. He lived and behaved himself justly, and righteously in the flesh and spirit according to the law of God. In the Scripture, only three men are denoted by the appellation “a just man.” Only three. “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation,” (Ge. 6:9). Cornelius, the centurion, was designated as “a just man, and one that feareth God” (Ac. 10:22). And, the third man was Joseph, of course, “being a just man.” That list of three excludes the Lord, of course, about whom Pilate said three times, “I find no fault in this man” (Lk. 23:4; 23:14; Jn. 18:38; 19:4; 19:6).

Forgotten sometimes is the fact that Joseph was only a young man, perhaps in his mid-teens or early twenties, engaged to a younger woman named Mary, who was making plans for the rest of their lives together when the greatest challenge to his young life occurred. The girl of his dreams just informed him that she was with a child. And it was not his child. And, to top it off, she gave him the outlandish story that she was with child by the Holy Ghost. It was inconceivable to him—just out of this world (Mt. 1:18-19; Lk. 1:34-35). This was the dilemma of Joseph before God. But it was in this dilemma that God chose to reveal the just character of Joseph’s honor and integrity. Joseph was not a just man because he was from the family of David. He was not a just man because he was from the small village of Bethlehem. He was not a morally just man because he kept the laws of Moses. He was just and righteous because God had made him so Joseph walked with the Lord and waited on the Lord and worshiped the Lord. Joseph had come into a personal relationship with the Lord. That is what made him just. That personal relationship made a difference in his life and it shined brightly in this dilemma. Joseph shows us that it is in the darkest hours, the most difficult hours, and the grave dilemmas that the true character of the soul is revealed. Those times will reveal whether we are just or not.

4 But while he thought

“But while he thought on these things” is the key to the final thought. Joseph lay down on his bed, overwhelmed with grief, his energy spent and fell asleep. A deep sleep. Exhaustion had overtaken him and he fell asleep with all these thoughts swirling in his heart when he was awakened by the angel, Gabriel. Perhaps he had been in deep prayer also trying to get an understanding of what to do when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. At this moment, in the quietness of his room, as he thought on these things, we see the devoutness of Joseph to God. We would call him a pious man, a spiritual man. And he really was. Perhaps Mary had been unfaithful to him, but he would be a just man and do the right thing by her and be faithful to his God at the same time. 

How did the angel of the Lord appear to him in such a convincing manner that he arose from his sleep and “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife?” Well, I don’t know. But he did. And he believed the message of God given to him through the angel of the Lord. He was devout. A couple of years later he would prove his devoutness again when “the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt” (Mt. 2:13-14).

5 What does the Lord want us to learn?

What does the Lord want us to learn from Joseph? Well, for me at least, it is that we can be a just person, a just believer. Joseph was not a pretender; he was a practitioner of his faith. His faith was momentarily shaken, but it was rooted and grounded in the Lord and in His truth. Joseph epitomized the man about whom King Solomon said, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Pr. 3:5-6). May God help each of us to be a Joseph, “a just man,” a just believer.

Have you been born again?
Are you 100% sure that Heaven would be your home if you were to die today?
If not, then read below and be sure!

FIRST, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE A SINNER.

(Romans 3:23), “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:10), “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
No one is perfect. No one has lived up to God’s perfect standard.

SECOND, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT AS A SINNER YOU OWE A PENALTY.

(Romans 6:23), “For the wages of sin is death…”
(Ezekiel 18:4), “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
This death is described in the Bible as the second death.
(Revelation 20:14), “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” 
If we pay what we owe as sinners, we must spend eternity in the lake of fire (Hell).

THIRD, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT JESUS HAS ALREADY PAID OUR SIN DEBT.

(Romans 5:6), “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” 
Christ was not a sinner, and the Bible teaches that God took all of our sin and placed it on Christ. While Christ was bearing all of our sins in His own body, God punished Him in our place to pay our debt.

FOURTH, YOU MUST ACCEPT BY FAITH WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID FOR YOU.

(John 3:36), “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life…”
To believe on the Son means that you completely trust Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection as the only
acceptable payment for your sins. If you would like to trust Christ as your personal Saviour, then pray this prayer and mean it from your heart:

Lord Jesus,
I am a sinner and I deserve hell but the best I know how, I am trusting you as my Saviour. Please forgive me of my sins and take me to Heaven when I die. Help me to live for you all the days of my life.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen.

If you just trusted Christ as your Saviour and prayed that prayer, then you are saved! Now you need to find a Bible believing church, get baptized, and start living for the Lord Jesus! If you are outside of our ministry area and would like to be referred to a good church, then please contact us and we will be happy to locate one for you.