Genesis 39 Life of Joseph, Part 3: Flee Sexual Immorality

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And Pastor Tim, will you open us in a word of prayer? Sure. Father God, thank you so much that we can gather here again today to learn your word.

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We thank you for this church that teaches your word and rightly divides it. We pray for all the people here listening online and those of us here in this room that we would be edified as brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would be motivated to go out and do your word, not just be hearers only.

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So we thank you for this teaching and we ask that you would empower Jeff to teach us and that we would be able to hear your word and then go out and do it.

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In Jesus name, amen. Amen. There has been a rash of young people leaving

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Christianity or if not leaving the full scope of Christianity, deconstructing their faith.

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Have you heard of deconstruction? Yep. Deconstruction, deconstructing the faith. Behind every person that deconstructs,

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I shouldn't say every because you don't know every situation, but most of the time what you find is that behind deconstruction is not a problem with the

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Bible as such, the doctrines of the word of God, the truth of scripture. Behind deconstruction is sexual immorality.

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More often than not, a person gets involved in sexual sin or has, I think of this great quote -unquote great theologian

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David Gushy who for a long time was a conservative Bible scholar and then he deconstructed and became a liberal and stopped believing in the inerrancy of scripture and such.

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And what was his new teaching? Homosexuality should be accepted in the church.

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Well, you come to find out that his daughter or his son, I don't remember which one, had come out as a homosexual and all of a sudden the great theologian's theology changes.

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Sexual immorality is behind the fall of many scores of Christians.

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It is the great danger that squanders the lasting benefits that come from the hand of God's good favor.

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It is for the sake of fleeting pleasures, pleasures that do not last.

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So the wise person will flee sexual immorality. Tim, could

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I ask you to be the reader today? We have snow on the ground. So Tim will be the primary reader as we go through.

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Let's take this part by part and the first section in Genesis 39. We are doing the life of Joseph and the first thing we saw in Genesis 37 was rejection, the rejection of Joseph by his own brothers and that must have been a deep heart wound to be rejected by those you trust, your own kin, thrown into a pit and then sold to some traveling

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Ishmaelites to be a slave. In chapter 38, we actually transitioned over to Judah.

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The story of Judah is interwoven with the story of Joseph and he goes from a very wicked man in Genesis 38 and his sexual sin with Tamar to some indication of repentance there at the very end of the chapter because he does not go back to Tamar.

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He stays away from her and seems in some sense to be repentant, but we don't see the full faith of Judah come to fruition until later when he's willing to substitute himself for his brother

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Benjamin. So Judah's story is interwoven with the story of Joseph, but we return now to Joseph.

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He's been rejected and he's been carried off to Egypt. So let's read chapter 39, 1 to 6a.

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That's the first half of verse 6. Got it. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard in Egyptian, had brought him from the

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Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of the

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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.

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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 did or all that he had.

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From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the

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Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the

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Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge.

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And because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

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Oh, sorry. I thought that was 6b. No, that's a different sentence. Yep, I see that.

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I cut it off there before now, Joseph. So when you are sold into slavery in your homeland, you travel over land and sea on this bumpy cart.

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What is your expectation of the life you're about to live? I'm talking about before he sold into Potiphar's house.

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What do you imagine Joseph was envisioning for the rest of his life? Being a slave.

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A slave. And he will be a slave in a sense, a servant in the house of Potiphar. But what do you think he was imagining it to look like?

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Kind of like the slavery in Egypt, right? Of the Israelites. Yeah, you're carrying bricks.

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You're forging bricks. You're working by the sweat of your brow. This horrible, difficult life and there's somebody whipping you.

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Just unimaginable pain and suffering. But what happens? Surprisingly, Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, not any officer, the captain of the guard, verse 1, buys him from the

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Ishmaelites. And that actually turns out to be a very different kind of life. Verse 2 says the

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Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his

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Egyptian master. Now, do you suppose that the captain of the guard,

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Potiphar, had a nicer house or a worse house than what Joseph grew up in? Probably nicer.

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I think so. Yeah. At this point, the house of Abraham has not been built up to become this great nation.

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It's still just a tent dwelling people, these Hebrews that are just don't have much. I mean, you did have wealth that they had brought up, that Abraham had brought up.

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So there is some significant wealth, but it's not the captain of the guard of the very kingdom of Egypt, which is the greatest kingdom on Earth at this time.

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And this man, Potiphar, is very wealthy. So now he finds himself in the house of an

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Egyptian master named Potiphar. His master saw, verse 3, that the Lord was with him and that the

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Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

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There's a psalm that says establish the work of our hands, Lord, establish the work of our hands.

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This refers to the hand of God's favor, which is an invisible hand, establishing the work of our visible hands.

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It's not a passive thing where the person working just sleeps in every day and does nothing.

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It is work by the hand willing to do whatever is asked of Joseph, but behind Joseph is an invisible hand.

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I think this is one of the key themes of the book of Ezra. Remember the book of Ezra when they come out of exile?

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And Ezra is a priest. I want us to turn quickly to Ezra chapter 7, verses 9 and 10.

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This is one of my all -time favorite verses and even a life verse because as a minister,

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I take special instruction on from the life of a priest who was an expositor, someone who would handle the

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Word of God. In Ezra 7, verses 9 and 10, we're told about how

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God's hand of favor is on Ezra. In verse 10, we're going to be told why

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God's hand of favor is with Ezra. Very important. So in verse 9, for on the first day,

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Ezra 7, 9, for on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem for the good hand of his

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God was on him. That theme of the good hand of God being on Ezra, pops up again and again in the book of Ezra.

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In 714, we hear about the hand of Ezra, which holds to the

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Word of God. Verse 28, 728, for the hand of the Lord, my

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God was on me. In Ezra 725, the wisdom of your

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God that is in your hand, this theme. Ezra chapter 8, verse 18, by the good hand of our

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God on us, and this comes up again and again. 831, the hand of our

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God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy. You see the theme.

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The hand of God's favor is invisible, but it's a hand that blesses and causes the work of our hands, what's visible to succeed.

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Now, would anybody listening online or here in the room, desire for the hand of God's favor to be on the things that we do?

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Yes, please. Please Lord, have you ever asked, how is it that a person can have the hand of God's favor?

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Because we all want that, right? Well, now let's look at Ezra 710. The word for, which connects to the hand of God's favor in verse 9, gives the reason why

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God put his hand of favor upon Ezra. Ezra 710, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the

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Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

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So why was, there's three answers. Why was the hand of God's favor on Ezra?

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He set his heart to study the law of the Lord. Number one, set his heart to study the law of the

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Lord. That's the word of God. He went to share what he learned from God with others.

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Very good. That's number three. And there's one in between. He does the law.

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He does it. It's one thing to stand up and teach a principle of God's word. The teacher also has to put into practice the things that he teaches.

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The hand of God's favor can lift us up above any circumstance.

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So the hand of God's favor is on those who study the word, do the word, teach the word.

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Study, do, teach. Study, do, teach. You keep reading the word. Is anybody reading through the

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Bible this year? I'm doing that online. I'm sure tons of people are. Trying to read through the Bible, to put into practice the things that you read, and then to teach others to do the same.

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Not everybody has a pulpit like Ezra had, right? When he stood on his high wooden platform, and he read the law of the

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Lord, and exposited such a beautiful scene. But everybody has people in their lives that they are called to teach.

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Could be a grandchild. It could be a son or daughter. It could be a youth group. It could be whoever

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God has providentially put in your life that you could teach. It could be an unbeliever that you have the calling to teach the gospel to.

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So these three things bring the hand of God's favor. We all want that. Let's go back to Genesis 39.

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Joseph is a man who believes the word of the Lord, does it.

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He lives what he reads and believes, and he's a teacher of these things.

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Verse 4. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him.

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That is Potiphar's sight. Favor given in his work. God is establishing the work of his hands.

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He's blessing. The hand of God's good favor. The invisible hand is behind Joseph's work.

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And he made him overseer of his house, and put him in charge of all that he had.

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Now, listen to this. From the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, the

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Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the

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Lord was on all that he had in house and in field. That's pretty good, isn't it?

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So now he is basically in charge of everything, and Potiphar himself left, verse 6, all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him, he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

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All Potiphar had to do in life was to think about what he wanted to eat that day. Am I going to Taco Bell or am

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I going to Chick -fil -A? That's all he really had to worry about because he knew Joseph was so capable, so good in every way.

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In fact, now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. That's going to be an interesting transition into what happens.

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Now, just talking about this idea of God's hand of favor. It means that God is blessing.

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He's providing everything that's needed for life and godliness. He's establishing the work of your hand.

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If you're a salesman, every sale that you make, you give glory to God and you're providing for your family.

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You have a roof over your head. You've got a car to drive. You've got what you need to be successful in this world, and you recognize, although I worked hard by my own hands, this has to be the

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Lord because think about it. Could Joseph control who bought him? No, he could have been sold to a brick maker and spent the days of his life under a whip, but it was

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God's hand that established him. Did he work hard? Oh, absolutely. He worked so diligently that Potiphar could trust his whole house to him.

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So he's a hard worker and everything in a sense is going well.

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Does that mean that the hand of God's favor delivers us from trials?

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Nope, nope. It means it will carry us through the trials.

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In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Praise the

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Lord. He will see us through trials and that's about to come.

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But first, there's another kind of trial. The word for trial in the

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Greek can mean temptation or trial.

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And in a sense, a trial is a temptation, but there's a particularly dangerous trial that will come probably to every human being, at least from age 12 and up at some point in their life.

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And that is the particularly dangerous destructive trial that if you fail, you can shipwreck your faith.

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You can end up deconstructing and losing faith altogether. And that is the trial of all trials, what one author called every man's battle and then wrote a second book entitled

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Every Woman's Battle because really there it is every human's battle and that is of course sexual temptation.

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Temptations to sin will come in this life. Now, let's look at Joseph in this situation.

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6b, what I'm calling 6b from Now Joseph through verse 7. 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.

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Okay, it's interesting because it was because he was handsome and well formed in appearance that she cast her eyes upon him.

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Is it a blessing or a curse to be good looking? I ask myself that question all the time. Is it a blessing or a curse?

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I'm just joking. Is it a blessing or a curse to be good looking?

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Depends who sees you. Well said. Depends who sees you. It's generally a blessing, right?

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You'd rather be well shaped in a good appearance, in good form, handsome in form and appearance or as a female, beautiful, of course.

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But there's a particular temptation that comes from that and I would say it's more difficult for some than for others and I think

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Joseph had it pretty rough in this sense because now the master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph because of how he looked to her and said, lie with me.

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Here comes sexual temptation. So regardless what a person looks like, there will be temptations. Temptations to sin will come.

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It might be in the form of an image on the internet or it could be an actual person who is tempting in this way.

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But it doesn't mean that God doesn't favor you. So many people when they're facing sexual temptation, they think, oh,

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I must have done something wrong. Is it wrong to be encountered with a trial or a temptation?

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No, temptations will come. It's obviously a trial and what you do with it will determine your very future.

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The book of Proverbs chapters 1 to 8 is very much centered on this because Solomon is training his young son in that book and what he focuses on is the dangers of temptation and especially sexual temptation.

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This woman who's calling him to go to bed with her and he warns his son that if you do, it's like being a bird in a trap and you're going to get shot through with arrows.

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He's warning him there is horrible destruction down that road.

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If you follow that path, you could shipwreck everything. So here we go in verses 8 to 10.

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You think Joseph does well? Let's see it. But he refused and said to his master's wife,

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Behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

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He is not greater in this house than I am nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife.

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How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her to lie beside her or to be with her.

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Sexual sin violates one's own self -interest as well as violating

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God's good design. So we think of the glory of God and that is the ultimate incentive to live holy.

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But here's what I would like to say that I think this passage is actually focusing on. It does have a phrase regarding God when it says and sin against God and sin against God in verse 9.

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That's the God -centered reason. But what's happening here in the text is that Joseph is able to think through his own self -interest and that's what we're supposed to remember from this text.

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Paul does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6 .18. He says, flee from sexual immorality.

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Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

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You're putting wounds in your own body by these choices.

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And what Paul is saying is the same thing as what Moses is writing here in recording the story.

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Notice in verses, verse 8. Behold, because of my master, he has no concern about anything in the house and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

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Joseph recognizes that by obeying God's good favor, he's been blessed.

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Look at what he has. Everything in the master's house is his. The hand of God's good favor is on the line.

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That's self -interest. It's very important to notice this. In verse 9, he is not greater in this house than I am.

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He recognizes that in God's favor, he is so exalted, he has so much blessing, so much on the line, that he actually has everything that Potiphar has in the house.

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He eats the same food. He sleeps in a nice luxurious bed. The house is one of the greatest houses in all of Egypt.

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And he has the esteem of everybody. He has respect. He's been given all of these good gifts from God.

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Nor has he kept back anything from me, except you, the wife of Potiphar.

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Here, what Joseph is saying, you are his wife. How then can

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I do this great witness? The question is, why would I squander the great benefits of God's hand of favor on my life for a moment of fleeting pleasure?

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Sexual sin violates one's own self -interest. Is it okay to appeal to self -interest?

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It is. And there is a major teaching in Christian circles about, and it really comes from the social justice crowd as well, that self -interest is selfishness.

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And you should never be motivated by self -selfishness. Therefore, you get books like Radical by David Platt, which have this disdain for self -interest.

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But think about Jesus. What did he say? He talked about the person who exchanges this world for the one to come.

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Is it better to gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

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Your own soul. What is Jesus appealing to in that sentence?

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Your own self -interest. You should value your own soul not being sent into hell so much that you would sooner get rid of even all the treasures of this world.

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It's not an appeal to immediate gratification. That's the difference. It's not taking for yourself what

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God hasn't given. But it's the long -term interest. It might involve short -term sacrifice but it's still actually self -interest.

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Think about this. Hebrews 12, verse 1 and 2. Speak about Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the

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Father. What does that mean? Jesus was motivated by his own self -interest for the joy set before him, the reward of his suffering, to have a people for his own possession,

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Titus 2 .14. He was willing to endure the short -term suffering. And that is how it is with sexual sin.

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Sexual sin will present itself as your self -interest. It's not.

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The selfish gratification of sexual sin is actually toward your own destruction.

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It is in your own interest, your long -term interest, to flee sexual immorality because that is actually against your own body.

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Paul says. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

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The idea is you're shooting yourself in the head. You're hurting yourself.

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And Joseph said, why would I do this? He recognized the hand of God's favor that blessing was in the path of obedience.

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Okay. Amazing point right there. Now verses 11 and 12. Don't even move in the direction of crossing a line but we notice from 1

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Corinthians 6 .18. Flee from sexual immorality. I'll have you read it in just a minute but I remember just often being asked this question as a youth pastor.

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You probably get this. Well how far is too far? Can I kiss my girlfriend?

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What level of touching or cuddling or what's appropriate in dating? And the answer is to go back to 1

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Corinthians 6 .18. It's not how close you can get to the line before you begin to cross it.

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It's the direction you're moving. You shouldn't be asking can I get this close and it not be sin.

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If to you, if your conscience is testifying against you, that's sin. The key is your heart should be fleeing in the opposite direction not trying to get as close as possible to say is this okay too?

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Is that okay too? Is that okay too? Because that's the path to crossing the line. If you keep getting closer and closer to the line, eventually you're going to push the line.

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You think you're pushing the line, ultimately you're crossing it. Okay read it. But one day when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

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This is so important. So important. He did not sit around and try to talk her out of it.

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Yeah. He did not hang around and flirt. He got out of there.

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He ran. He fled sexual immorality. Ephesians 5 3 says but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.

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This means have not even a hint or an appearance of sexual immorality to be moving in the opposite direction and Joseph I think is the perfect model of this in all the

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Bible. He's the preeminent example of one who flees sexual temptation. Doing the right thing you would think results in what?

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The hand of God's favor. Ready for a twist in the plot? Verses 13 to 18.

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And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them, see he has brought among us a

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Hebrew to laugh at us. He came into me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice and as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.

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Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home and she told him the same story saying, the

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Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us came into me to laugh at me but as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.

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False accusations. What a false accusation. And don't you, did you notice how she tries to put it on Potiphar?

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What a manipulative woman she is. Look what she says. She told him the same story.

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The Hebrew servant whom you have brought among us. Putting him on the defense of like, oh you brought this guy in here so you better not disbelieve what

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I'm saying. She's putting him on notice that you better respond to what

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I say here. You better believe women. This is the Me Too movement. Just because she makes the claim, there doesn't need to be any other evidence.

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Hey look, here's his coat. Okay, you got his coat. There could be other reasons why you have his coat.

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Namely, you grabbed him and he had to run out of the room. But she being manipulative here, has him boxed in and she says, as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.

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This dramatic story and it is an absolute lie. Doing the right thing sometimes results in false accusations.

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Doing the right thing. We know that doing the wrong thing would result in horrible outcomes.

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What would have happened if Joseph had begun sleeping with Potiphar's wife? He probably would have got away with it.

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Once or twice or three times or five or ten times, but ultimately be sure your sin will find you out.

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Eventually they would have been found out and where would Joseph have been? In prison. So he does the right thing and where does he end up?

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In prison. Isn't this an amazing story here? The moral is the hand of God's favor does not always prevent really bad things from happening.

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Think of Jesus Christ our perfect example. Never did anything but the right thing all the time and what did they do to him?

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Crucify him. Think of Paul in every city he went to. He only came preaching the love of God in Christ Jesus the crucifixion and resurrection and what did it get him?

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Stoned. Thirty nine lashes. Five times. Shipwrecks and beatings.

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Flogging. Just rejected and hated everywhere he went. It says here the hand of God's favor does not always prevent really bad things from happening but his hand remains to carry us through.

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So the horribly painful outcomes will come in this life.

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In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world we will overcome and look what it says in verses 19 to 23 read it to him.

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As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him this is the way your servant treated me his anger was kindled and Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison the place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in prison but the

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Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison put

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Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison whatever was done there he was the one who did it the keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the

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Lord was with him and whatever he did the Lord made it to succeed that is remarkable because had he fallen in sexual sin he would have ended up in prison he resists temptation and he ends up in prison but the difference is verse 21 but the

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Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and so the difference is yes he's in prison but God is with him he has his integrity had he gone the sinful route he would end up in prison but he wouldn't have the favor of God the good hand of favor is obviously still on Joseph because look what it says verse 22 the keeper of the prison put

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Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners does that just happen that's a

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God thing that's not an ordinary occurrence it's not just the flow of life just the way things go whatever was done there he was the one who did it the keeper of the prison paid no attention once again all the prison keeper does now is just Taco Bell or Chick -fil -a he doesn't have anything to do because he just lets

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Joseph do it all he's that good at what he does ultimately God's hand of favor is with him because it says the

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Lord was with him whatever he did the Lord made it succeed it says in 1

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Corinthians 10 -13 no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man a lot of people when tempted think they're the only ones like they're the first person to have to struggle with resisting temptation and you don't know how hard it is wait a minute everybody on planet earth understands how hard it is this is life you were raised and especially in a godless culture it's probably a lot harder in 21st century

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America than it was in 16th century America because there's so much more access to images and just the culture is so accepting of your own truth and you are autonomous it's my body my choice do whatever you want with your body nobody can tell you if you lived in a godly culture then society would be reinforcing the idea that your body is a temple it belongs to God you are not your own you were bought with a price but in this culture everybody's saying do what feels good and so the temptations are heightened in this culture but the truth is no temptation has come upon any of us except what is common to man and here's the point

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Joseph was encountering this 1500 no this is almost 2000 years before Christ 1900 years before Christ so 4000 years ago roughly it was just like it is today and that's what

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Paul's saying no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man but listen God is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability was

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Joseph forced to sleep with Potiphar's wife no he was tempted but he refused to give in to that temptation and the result was the hand of God's favor remained on him but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure that idea is there's something of your willful choice in that as a regenerate

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Christian you have choices to make so application Joseph is the

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Bible's positive example of fleeing sexual immorality

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Joseph the whole point of chapter 39 is the hand of God's good favor it was on him in Potiphar's house it's on him still in the prison the sexual temptation episode he passed the test and the hand of God's favor now if any of us ever fall sexually is there restoration for a sinner there is forgiveness you're a step ahead of me did you see what's next in the note alright

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Barbara look at this David that's the second sentence in the application is the negative example of sin and consequence but David repented

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Psalm 51 is about David's repentance there is forgiveness for David he's still a man after God's own heart but did he have to suffer earthly consequences he forfeited so much of the hand of God's good favor for the consequences of sexual sin think about that what happened to David that son that was conceived with Bathsheba died and it broke

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David's heart remember how he was fasting and weeping for days and days and the baby died he finally was able to get back to his life somewhat but still his other son would fall sexually he'd be chased out of the kingdom by that son all of this was a consequence of his sexual sin but David did listen

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David did steal his resolve by that I mean steal like make firm his resolve not to sin that way again there was not a second

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Bathsheba episode in David's life he went and sinned no more and here's what he writes did you know

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David wrote Psalm 103 Psalm 101 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless

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I hate the work of those who fall away it shall not cling to me do you see the defiance in David defiance against the tyranny of sin he refuses to let a strong hold of sexual sin remain in his life he steals his resolve he will not put anything before his eyes that is especially important in this culture in which we live with rampant pornography and images that people can access you must cling like David did to Psalm 101 verse 3

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I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless Job put it this way in Job 31 1

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I have made a covenant with my eyes how then could I gaze at a virgin and what he means there is not to look lustfully at a woman

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Job made a covenant with his eyes he was righteous in that way so we should learn from these examples both positive and negative

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Joseph the man who got it right the first time and fled David the man who got it right the second time and repented and steeled his resolve to no longer look sinfully like he had done with Bathsheba so we are to learn from these examples to flee sexual immorality ultimately what

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I'm saying here today is that listener it is in your self interest your self interest to not go on sinning sexually it's in your self interest you will forfeit the strong hand of God's favor in your life for worthless things for the discipline of God the consequences that come which

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David had to endure whereas Joseph although he still had trials in this life painful things happen he was able to go through and the hand of God ultimately carried him through many years in prison it wasn't an easy trial for Joseph but the hand of God's favor was with him even in those circumstances so that's the lesson it's in your interest to flee sexual immorality and how could you sin against God it's ultimately to the glory of God so Tim would you close us in prayer

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Father God thank you so much for this teaching we thank you for the life of Joseph how we can look at it and aspire to be that way because it will help our own self out in the future saving our own soul and protecting our own soul is valuable we thank you for that knowledge and we pray all those who are listening now want to live a life pleasing to you because how can we sin against you who love us and have given us all things

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Lord thank you for your son Jesus who did die on the cross for the sins that we have committed and even the ones that we will commit we thank you for the forgiveness that you offer for forgiving people like David who have sinned in a horrible way and even us

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Lord who have sinned in horrible ways but you still forgive us so we thank you for your forgiveness and we thank you for what a blessed life we could have and the hand of God being on us we look forward to that and we pray for your hand to bless us and keep us