Praise him! Praise him! Let her enjoy her sorrow!
Praise him! Praise him! Choose your place for her to be heard!
Oh, our sins he suffered with live and die!
We are God, our good, our salvation!
Hail! Hail! Hail! Jesus, the voice of life!
Son, he is changing! Jesus, your voice is mine!
God, our God! Hail! Our good, our good, our salvation!
Praise him! Praise him! Tell him his exhumation!
Praise him! Praise him! Let her enjoy her sorrow!
Praise him! Praise him! Jesus, our God, we praise thee back!
Hail! Hail! Hail! Jesus, the voice of life!
Jesus, he will bring you forever and ever!
Let him, let him, welcome you! Praise to him!
Rise, he is calling! Over the world, his hope is growing!
Let him be known to the Lord, be known!
Praise him! Praise him! Praise him! Praise him!
Praise him! Praise him! Let her enjoy her sorrow!
May God, his power, and his memory be clear.
Dear Lord, thank you for this day, and thank you for all that you have served, and also for God's sake today.
Please bless the service tonight, and our sinning, and Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.
Let's turn to song number 119.
Song number 119, Till the Storm Passes By.
Over the land that I love, in my days, the storm has brought me, and there's no other place.
In the grass, over my life, was a storm in my life.
Till the storm passes by, till the storm passes over.
Till the weather moves down the road, till the clouds move forever from the sky.
Over the grass where we stand, in the weather, in the sand, till the storm passes by.
Every time the singing was heard, there was no one to cry.
There was no end to sorrow, as you held my ground.
Over the land that I love, in my days, the storm has brought me, and there's no other place.
Over the land that I love, in the storm passes by.
Over the land that I love, in the weather, in the sand.
Over the grass where we stand, in the halls of my head.
Over the land that I love, in the sand, till the storm passes by.
Over the land that I love, in the night, the storm passes over me.
Over the land that I love, in the rain, the waves will show.
Anyway, let's go ahead and count up the soul winning tonight.
Let's go back to Friday the 11th.
Is there anything for the group on Saturday?
And then I know today it sounded like it was a real receptive four.
Does anyone know what we're going to get later this week?
I didn't think so.
Okay, well that's going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
So many hands. I owe Josiah one so I've got to pick one.
69.
I don't know that one. It's on the list though.
I'm sorry.
271.
271, let's see.
It doesn't sound familiar.
Let's see.
Sorry.
I've got to go with Nathan.
18.
Sure not 15?
Because I know 15.
Why yes.
Song number 18, take the name of Jesus with you.
Take the name of Jesus with you.
Child of sorrow and of war.
He will join and come forgive you.
Take him and bring him home.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Take the name of Jesus ever.
As a shield from every sin.
In temptations wrapped together.
Bring back holy name and prayer.
Take the name of Jesus ever.
Bring back holy name and prayer.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Oh, the precious name of Jesus.
How impressed the soul for joy.
Will his love be longed to see us.
Make his songs and tongues and call.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Take the name of Jesus ever.
Holy, holy name of Jesus.
Take the name of Jesus ever.
When our journey is complete.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Precious name of our sweet.
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
This time we're going to go ahead and pass the offering plate.
And as it goes around you can follow along with me as I read from Genesis 39.
Genesis chapter 39, assuming I left my Bible in here.
Not my only Bible, okay? I have more than one.
Ah, but I have one I like to read from the pulpit, so.
It's got the phonetics in it, the spellings, so.
We all know how difficult that is, right? So Genesis chapter 39.
Tonight.
That's not it. Genesis 39.
It's got the name of the book way deep in there. That's the only thing I don't like.
I'm sure you're curious about my Bible. I'm sure you wonder why.
I do the things I do.
Alright, Genesis 39. The Bible reads, verse 1,
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt in Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.
An Egyptian bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down hither.
And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over his house,
and over all that he had he put into his hand.
And it came to pass from that time that he had made him overseer in his house,
and over all that he had that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.
And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field,
and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not ought he had
save the bread which he did eat, and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored.
And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph,
and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wadeth not
what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath in my hand.
There is none greater in this house than I, neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her,
hearkened unto her to lie by her, or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business,
and there was none of the men of the house there within.
And she caught him by the garment, saying, Lie with me.
And he left his garment in her hand, and fled out, and got him out.
And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand,
and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them,
saying, See hath brought in Hebrew unto us to mock us.
He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.
And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice,
and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
And she laid up his garment by her, until his Lord came home.
And she spake unto him according to this word, saying, The Hebrew servant,
which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me.
And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice, and cried,
that he left his garment with me, and fled out.
And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife,
which he spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me,
that his wrath was kindled.
And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison,
a place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy,
and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all of the prisoners
that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
And the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand,
because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, and the Lord made it to prosperous.
Go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, I ask tonight that you would meet with us,
and Lord, that you would help me again to preach your word,
that it might edify your people.
I ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
So this is going to be part two of the sermon I preached this morning,
going through our series on lessons from leaders,
and we're looking at Joseph this morning, or excuse me, this evening, rather.
And if you remember this morning, I talked about the fact that Joseph was somebody
who was persecuted, he faced a lot of trials,
in the sense that because of the fact that his brothers hated him,
they envied him, and they persecuted him,
and how that was something that the Lord Jesus Christ also experienced,
how Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not,
and eventually had him crucified,
and that that was something that the Lord allowed to happen.
Of course, Joseph is a picture of Christ, he came unto his own,
they received him not, they envied him, they hated him,
they sold him unto the Ishmaelites, and they eventually sold him to Potiphar,
and that's where we pick up the story.
And the application we're making with Joseph in the series is that
we need to be Christ-like, that was the application this morning,
to be Christ-like, and I'm trying to keep this to just one lesson per leader,
but there's just so much with Joseph,
there's just so many great lessons from Joseph that we could learn.
Joseph was a great man of God, and there's a lot we could learn from him,
but I want to also just preach tonight about another lesson we can learn from Joseph,
and it's that he was tempted, and he sinned not.
And that is also a parallel that we see with Christ as well,
is that Christ also was tempted, the Bible's very clear about this,
if you would go to Hebrews chapter number 4.
Hebrews chapter number 4, of course we just read how Joseph was tempted,
we saw that there in the story, it says in Genesis 39 verse 7,
as you're going to Hebrews 4,
And it came to pass after these things,
that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph,
and she said, Lie with me.
But he refused and said unto his master's wife,
Behold, my master whateth not was with me in the house,
and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand.
There is none greater in this house than I,
neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee,
because thou art his wife.
How can I do this great weakness and sin not?
And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day,
that he hearken not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
So Joseph is there, and his master's wife is there in the house,
and day by day she's pressing upon him,
trying to tempt him to commit this wickedness,
to commit adultery, to lie with her.
Joseph, no doubt, was tempted.
Joseph, we know, was a young man.
The Bible says he was a goodly young man.
You know, obviously, he's like any other young man.
That would definitely have been a temptation.
And it doesn't say there, of course,
Joseph was a very righteous individual,
but he's one of the things we see,
the major deterrents in this,
is not just that Joseph was this great, godly young man,
but he understood that this is a great wickedness,
that this is just something that you shouldn't do.
So Joseph was tempted, and we know the story.
He sinned not.
Jesus also was tempted and sinned not.
This is a parallel, right?
And that's the application,
is that just as Joseph was Christ-like,
we also need to be Christ-like, okay?
There in Hebrews chapter 4, it says in verse 15,
For we have not an high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted,
like as we are, yet without sin.
The Bible says that our high priest, which is Christ,
he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He knows what it's like to be in the flesh.
He knows what it's like to have a physical body,
like you and I.
Jesus was hungered.
Jesus was wearied.
Jesus wept.
Jesus was tired.
Jesus was all of these things.
Jesus experienced everything that we experience.
And he also was tempted.
I mean, that's what it says there.
He was in all points tempted.
Like as we are, yet without sin.
You see, it's possible to be tempted.
You know, people often get confused sometimes.
They think that if they're tempted by sin,
that somehow they're in sin.
You know, it's one thing to be tempted to sin.
It's another thing to sin, isn't it?
So we see here that a parallel between Joseph and Jesus
is that they were both tempted and they both sinned not.
Joseph didn't sin in this story.
Not saying that Joseph wasn't without sin.
Obviously he was.
Bible doesn't give us a lot of details about anything
that he did that was wrong,
but he was a sinner just like the rest of us.
But Jesus, we know, was without sin.
He was tempted in all points, yet without sin.
You say, you know, how is it that we're to avoid sin?
And that's really the application I want to make tonight,
is how we're to go about, you know, avoiding sin.
And we see in Joseph's life that he fleed from sin.
But before we look at that,
I want to look at how the Lord dealt with being tempted.
And if you would, go to Matthew chapter number four.
Keep something there in Hebrews,
but go to Matthew chapter four.
Something in Hebrews four.
And go over to Matthew chapter four.
You know, Jesus was tempted and he didn't sin
and it wasn't necessarily, obviously he was God
that was just, it's not in his nature to sin,
but he also gave us an example of how to avoid sinning.
That when we also are tempted,
because we are going to be tempted,
that when we are tempted to sin,
there are certain things that we can do
to not fall into that sin.
And one of the things that we see Jesus doing
is that he appeals to God's word.
And really that's what we need to learn to do.
We need to learn to take the shield of faith
whereby we may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Above all, it says, above all taking,
Ephesians says, above all.
More than the helmet, more than the sword of the spirit,
more than any of these other things,
he says, above all taking the shield of faith
whereby you may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
That's the thing that we need to hang on to the most,
that defensive weapon, the shield of faith,
believing that we can resist the devil,
believing that we can have victory in Christ.
By faith, take that shield of faith above all
because there are going to be many fiery darts of the wicked
that are shot at us in this life.
Not just through our flesh,
but also through the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life and the world.
It's all going to be thrown at us.
We need to have that shield of faith,
believing that we can live, not a sinless life,
not a perfect life, but a life where,
not a life of just blatant, intentional sin.
And one way that we do it is through appealing to God's word.
That's how Jesus did it.
It's there in verse one of Matthew chapter four.
It says, then was Jesus led up of the earth
and led up of the spirit into the wilderness
and tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights,
it makes you wonder if he was a Baptist, you know.
When he had tempted fasted days and 40 nights,
he was afterward hungered.
And when the tempter came to him, he said,
if thou be the son of God, command these stones
that they be made bread.
And he answered and said,
well, I'm God, I'm just not going to do that.
And obviously we know he's God.
It's his nature.
He couldn't even sin if he wanted to.
But Jesus is showing us an example.
He said, but he answered and said,
it is written man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He's appealing back to the law of God.
He's appealing to the word of God.
When he's faced with temptation,
a much sorer temptation than any of you will ever,
or I will ever face.
You know, he's fasting 40 days, he's in hungered,
and the devil's there will make you,
hey Jesus, you know, you're the son of God.
You could just turn a stone into peas of bread
and end that hunger right now.
You could just bring all this suffering to an end
by just giving in.
But he appealed to the word of God and said,
well, wait a minute, man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
That's how he dealt with temptation.
He goes on there and says,
then the devil taketh him up into an holy city
and seteth him on a pinnacle of the temple
and saith unto him, if thou be the son of God,
cast thyself down, for it is written,
he shall give his angels charge concerning thee
and in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone, Jesus said unto him,
it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Again, appealing to the word of God.
Again, the devil taketh him up
into an exceeding high mountain
and showeth him unto the kingdoms of the world
and the glory of them and he saith unto him,
all these will I give thee
if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him,
get thee hence Satan, for it is written,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God
and serve him and him only shalt thou serve.
So when Jesus is tempted three times
by the devil, he appeals in each instance
to the word of God.
Showing us that when we are tempted,
when we're going through some tribulation,
when we are being faced with something
that to do something we ought not to do,
we need to appeal the word of God.
We need to know the word of God.
That's why it's so important to be in church.
That's why it's so important to read your Bible
on a daily basis.
That's why memorizing scripture,
and I'm not saying you have to memorize
entire books or chapters or passages,
but if you're struggling
with some sin, if there's something
that is a temptation to you,
you probably do well to memorize
some scriptures about that subject.
If you're struggling with whatever the sin is,
get into the word of God,
memorize some scriptures on it,
and when you're tempted by the flesh,
when you're tempted to give into that sin
whatever it is, the Holy Spirit has something
to remind you of.
Has something to bring to memory once again.
Go to James chapter number one.
James chapter one.
We're all going to be tempted.
Being tempted, we can't just use this excuse
that so many people want to use out there
and just say, well, we're all human.
We can't help it.
We're just flesh and blood.
I understand that the people of this world,
the children of disobedience,
they're going to walk after the prince
of the power of the air.
I understand that.
That's just the way they do things.
But we don't have that excuse as Christians.
We have a high priest to go to.
We have a throne that we can go before.
We have a God that can deliver us.
We have a shield of faith.
We have a sauna way of his own lust and enticed.
We're all going to be tempted.
It's just going to happen.
It's in our flesh.
That doesn't necessarily mean we've gotten to sin.
What we need to learn to do is when that temptation comes,
to be like Joseph, to flee,
to recognize what's taking place
and understand that it's wicked.
It's not something we want to do.
We're going to be in trouble with our master, in a sense.
It says in verse 15,
then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin.
And when it is finished, it bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
So we see that Joseph and Jesus were both tempted to sin,
and yet they sinned not.
Jesus, of course, we understand it was in his nature.
He was God.
But he still set us an example.
He still knew what it was like to be tempted.
Anyone that has dealt with maybe addictions in the past,
a good word of advice that I heard and I like to share
is that if you're trying to break some addiction
that you've had,
and even after you've gotten free and clear of it,
you should always have a game plan
for when you're tempted to do it,
for when you have a weak moment,
when you think maybe I'll give in to this again,
because here's the thing.
Once you've committed certain sins,
it's a lot easier to go back and commit it again.
Some people are going to have a lot harder time
committing certain sins simply because of the fact
that they've never been exposed to it.
They've never done it.
Those that have, however,
it's a lot easier to go back through that door.
We know what it's like on the other side.
The heart isn't going to race.
The palms aren't going to get sweaty.
We're not going to be looking over our shoulders.
We might even know how to get away with it.
You need to have a game plan.
And I've told people this,
and I've heard this advice,
is that you should actually sit down and write it out.
When I am tempted to, I will,
and I will say this,
if there's something you're struggling with,
hopefully I've earned the people's trust in this church
that they understand they can come to me in confidence,
that there's things that I'm not going to share with anybody,
even my wife.
There's things that I can be told
and people can confide in me things that I'm here to help.
And that being said,
when you make that game plan, put my name down on that list.
When I'm tempted to, I'm going to call the deacon and let him know.
I'm going to call him and say,
hey, I'm struggling with this right now.
Can you pray for me?
Sometimes just letting somebody else know
is enough to kind of keep you in check.
But there should be some kind of a game plan.
Maybe you don't need to go to that extent.
Maybe you need to go that far.
But look, we all need to have predetermined in our hearts.
We have to have already decided what we are going to do
when we are tempted with sin, whatever sin it is.
Joseph shows us another game plan.
Jesus obviously shows us, hey, appeal to the word of God.
Have the word of God written in your heart.
Know the Bible.
Know what the Bible says about certain sins.
That's what's going to help you.
If you're totally ignorant of the Bible,
you don't know what's a sin and what isn't,
does the Bible really condemn that?
I mean, look how many things the world just gets away with today
and they just think it's fine.
They just think it's things that the Bible calls abomination.
That's because they don't know.
So you need to know what the Bible says.
Going back to Genesis where we were, Genesis 39,
and it says in verse 10 again,
It came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day,
that he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house
to do his business and there was none of the men of the house there within.
Now let me just stop right there.
That's already a mistake in this situation.
Maybe Joseph didn't realize until he got in there that there was nobody else home.
He's putting himself in a bad situation by being alone with another man's wife,
by being alone with somebody of the opposite gender.
Because this is human nature.
That when you're alone with other people of the opposite gender, things can happen.
That's why, again, this is one of my, as I kind of alluded to this morning,
one of the standards that I have that maybe not everybody shares is that,
hopefully they do, is that I'm not going to let my daughters be alone with men, young men.
Ever.
Until they're married.
Say, oh, you know, what are you talking about?
You're not going to let them go out on dates?
Nope.
Yeah, they can date whatever you want to call it.
They can do it all within shotgun range.
Far enough to be out of earshot so they can have their conversations.
My daughters are never going to ride, even with other people, in the back seat next to a boy.
It's not going to happen.
And again, I understand this is my personal preference, but this is my personal preference.
Maybe it's worth considering.
Because, you know, when people, at that age especially,
when it's just all the hormones are just coursing through the bloodstream 24-7,
and you start getting close to one another physically,
and then if you want to be alone together, things can happen.
You think, oh no, not us, it'll never happen.
You wouldn't be the first to say that.
And you wouldn't be the first to fall.
You know, Joseph right here is making a mistake by going in there and being alone with this woman at all.
Even if he's not going to, I mean, we'll see here why more specifically,
even if nothing is going to happen, it looks bad, doesn't it?
Love of money, flee covetousness.
He said, oh man of God, flee these things, but what?
Follow up to righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,
fight the good fight of faith.
You need to flee from one thing and, you know, get involved in other things.
Get involved in that which is good.
Flee these things and fight the good fight of faith is what Paul told Timothy.
He said again in 2 Timothy, flee also youthful lusts.
You should flee these things.
Look at there in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12.
He says, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
And there's been plenty of people in this world, plenty of Christians,
plenty of God's own children who've sat there and thought, well I'll never commit that sin.
But when sin came, when the temptation came,
when, you know, the Potiphar's wife of this world pressed upon them day by day,
tempted them day by day,
and when the right situation came along and nobody was around,
finally they decided to go ahead and get in rather than flee.
I mean it gets to a point with Joseph that's the only option that he has.
It's not enough to just say I can't, I won't, no, and try to not even be around her.
Eventually it got to the point where the only option was to flee.
You know, but if we're just thinking about what it would be like to sin,
if we're just sitting there wondering what would this sin be like,
and what would that sin be like, and curious about sin,
I really wonder if we're going to flee from it when the opportunity comes.
I really wonder if you'll be the one to flee from it
if you've been sitting there wondering what it might be like.
Where is the sin?
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such is is common to man,
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able,
but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, there it is again, flee from idolatry.
Flee from idolatry.
You see, there's always the option of when we're tempted to not give in to that temptation.
It's just that sometimes we don't want to take God up on that offer.
We would rather give in.
We need to have this attitude of fleeing,
and not this attitude of, well, you know, I'm just not going to do that.
Look, I mean, I think sometimes people, you know,
sin comes around, temptation comes around, and they say, well, I'm going to flee this.
I'm just going to get away from this sin. Is this fleeing?
You know, fleeing is like, ah! You know, like running away.
It's getting out of there.
I'd run further, but then I'd probably have to stand up here and breathe heavy for about ten minutes.
You know, but it's that idea, you just, I mean, it's running out the back door,
getting as far away as we can, not just,
keep looking back. Is it still there? Yeah, it's still there.
It's going to be there every day of your life.
That temptation is always going to be there. The flesh is going to be there every single day you wake up.
That's why we have to mortify the flesh.
That heavy keeps something in Hebrews 4.
If not, go back there.
The Bible says in James chapter 4, do you think the scripture is safe and vain?
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy.
Plural.
The spirit which dwelleth in some of you,
you know, those of you with a checkered past,
that spirit to lust in you,
that dwelleth in you. No, it lusts in all of us.
Every single one of us has a corrupt nature.
Every single one of us can have a corrupt nature.
Every single one of us can be tempted to sin.
That same spirit dwelleth in every single one of us.
To lust, to envy.
But, it goes on and says, he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Now obviously in Joseph's case, it was a literal fleeing.
Right?
It was him literally running away,
it was him literally running away from the situation.
You know, that's not always going to be the case in our lives.
You know, many times it will be.
You know, when somebody tempts us to, hey, look at this.
Hey, check out what I found on the internet.
Hey, listen to this song.
Hey, let's watch this movie.
You gotta flee from that.
A phone.
We've already told them, don't look at their phone.
We've already told them no.
That's a lot to put on a kid.
That's a lot to put on an 8 year old, an 11 year old to say, hey, do you tell an adult no?
They're just not going to do it.
You know, my opinion is that, you know, I would never hold up a phone.
I don't care what it is. I don't care how harmless it is.
I would never want to be seen showing anyone else's kid something on my phone.
I'm just not going to do it.
Now, you can have your own standard. You can do whatever you want.
But I would ask that everyone respects that one for me and my family.
Please do not show.
But it's just, I don't want to expose my kid to the idea that it's just okay to just look.
I want to show things to my kids.
They probably want to show them something completely innocent.
But I don't want them to get in the habit of it.
I don't want them to develop a case for just looking at whatever they're shown.
You know, I don't want my kids.
I'm not going to let my kids be drug in to somebody ever.
It starts out harmless and then it's a little bit of sin.
And oh, that's a little inappropriate.
That's how, that's called desensitization.
You know, it's a little bit here and a little bit there.
You know, the devil just doesn't run up to you and go, I'm the devil.
He's subtle, folks.
You know, he tempts you.
Oh, it's pleasant to look at, Eve.
It's good to eat.
It'll make you wise.
We need to flee from sin.
Flee from all appearance of evil.
We must flee to God and to his word.
Where'd I have you go?
Where are you?
Hebrews 4?
Look at Hebrews 4, verse 16.
Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
You know, we'll be, we're all going to be tempted.
And sometimes I think when people get tempted they just think,
well, there's just no other option for me.
I just have to give in.
No, the Bible says there is a throne of grace.
And sometimes I think people, maybe they don't avail themselves
to the throne of grace because they might feel like God's already mad at them
for just being tempted.
Look, again, we're all going to be tempted.
There's nothing wrong with being tempted.
Christ was tempted.
The point is to not give in to that temptation.
That should be part of your game plan.
You know, that should be part of it.
You're being tempted with something,
the first thing you need to do is fall on your knees in prayer
and cry out to God.
But, you know, that would require some level of spirituality, wouldn't it?
That would require what?
A shield of what?
Faith.
You'd have to actually believe that.
That God would deliver you and hear you.
That there actually is that throne.
And I'm here to tell you, there actually is that throne.
That really is something that we can avail ourselves to when we're tempted.
We really can go before a holy God who loves us and understands.
We can go to our high priest who knows what it's like to be tempted
and find help.
And resist sin.
Flee to God.
Flee to his word.
Go to 1 Thessalonians 5.
The Bible says in Psalm 119,
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way
by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart I have sought thee,
but let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.
Why did he hide God's word in his heart?
That he might not sin against him.
You know, again, if we're struggling with sin,
it would be a really good idea to have some words of God written in our hearts.
That we would not sin against him.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16.
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
And everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
I just love this little litany of just like,
do this, do this, do this, do this.
Quench not the Spirit.
Despise not prophesying.
Prove all things.
Hold that fast that which is good.
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
You know, we should just stay away from even looking like what we're doing is wrong.
Isn't that what the Bible says?
I mean, are we all reading from the same Bible here?
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
And the very God of peace sanctify you holy.
And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and,
but that their body would be preserved blameless.
Meaning that they're not going to just give in to the lusts of the flesh.
Look, it's great that we have eternal security, isn't it?
Our souls are sealed.
We're preserved.
Blameless.
In the spirit and in the soul.
But what about our body?
Obviously we know we're getting a new one when we get there.
But along the way, you know, we can also be preserved even in this corrupt body.
Even with the spirit that lusts the envy.
Even with this flesh that desires to do wrong.
Even when we're dragging around the carcass of the old man through this whole life.
We could still be preserved in this body if we will avail ourselves to that throne of grace.
That is there.
Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.
Who also will do it.
You know, we sit there and we say, oh I know I'm saved, I know I'm on my way to heaven.
God is faithful, he will do it.
Yeah, but he'll also preserve your body.
He'll also help you get over that sin.
He'll help you to abstain from all appearance of evil.
If you want it, that throne is there.
Now it's going to take the time to go to Proverbs 7, but I think I'll just wrap it up a little bit early tonight.
Show us an example of what it's like to not flee from fornication and what happens.
I think we probably all read the story about, you know, among the sons of men there was that simple one that was observed out the window, right?
And he was just kind of, he wasn't fleeing from sin, but he wasn't running headlong towards it.
He was just kind of going by the way of that whorish woman and just kind of seeing what it was like in the evening, in the dark, in the twilight.
And then eventually she pressed him, she forced him with her flattery.
And the Bible says that, you know, that basically he was like an ox going to the slaughter.
That's not how I want to live my life.
Just like some dumb animal that is just going to be destroyed.
Well, and if you say, well neither do I, well then we've got to flee from sin.
We've got to run screaming in the opposite direction.
That's Christ-like, folks.
You can say, what's it like to be like Christ? To avoid sin, to hate sin, to flee from sin.
When you're tempted to not give in.
That was an example of Christ. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
Joseph was tempted and he literally fled from sin.
Go back to James chapter number 5.
James chapter number 5.
You know, both Jesus and Joseph are an example to us, you know, as leaders of what? Of enduring temptations.
This morning we talked more about, you know, the trials and tribulations that come about just by being a godly person.
By living a righteous life. Joseph was despised and hated by his brethren simply because of the fact that he was loved of his father.
Because he had that coat of many colors. Because he was just different.
Because he brought their evil report. Because God had given him a vision. God had given him a dream.
And he just expressed what was laid upon his heart and he was despised for it. He was hated for no good reason.
Look, that's a form of temptation. That's a form of a trial, isn't it?
And we're all going to go through that.
That's why the Bible says in James 1, you're going to James 5, brethren count on all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.
He's talking about the fact that, you know, count on joy that you're going to fall into temptations because it's the type of temptations that come upon those who live godly in Christ Jesus.
As I said this morning. Oh, you're being persecuted for your faith? Good. You must be doing something right.
Because all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
That's that kind of temptation that he's talking about there.
Not, hey, count on all joy when, you know, you're struggling with some sin repeatedly.
All these different sins are just besetting you on every side. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about what we were talking about this morning.
The kind of temptations and trials that we're going to face just by living because we live a righteous and godly life.
But tonight, you know, they're also, Jesus and Joseph both are an example of enduring the type of temptation that comes in the sense of the sins of the flesh.
That, you know, we're going to go through temptations. We're going to be, sin is going to appeal to us and we have to learn to crucify the flesh.
We have to learn to flee from sin. That's the lesson that we learn.
It says there in James 5 verse 10,
Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
Behold, we count them happy which endure.
You have heard the patience of Job. You have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
You know, when we're tempted, when we have some temptation in life, God pities us.
He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, our weakness, our proclivity to sin. He's not, he knows what we're going through.
And we have a throne of grace that we can flee to and we need to avail ourselves.
If we endure, if we flee, right, we count them happy, which endure.
If we get through that temptation, we have victory, you know, and we don't fall into that sin.
We resist it, we flee from it, we'll be blessed.
You know, fleeing from sin is twofold.
One, you're not going to get into sin and suffer all the consequences that come with getting into sin.
Because whether you like it or not, you know, sin bringeth forth death when it is finished.
Every time. You know, there's going to be consequences.
Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
That's just going to happen. You can't escape it.
So if you flee from it, at least you have the blessing of not, you know, suffering the consequences of sin.
Not only that, if you flee from it, God's going to be pleased by you.
And God's going to bless you.
God's going to, I mean, isn't that what happened in Joseph's life?
We say we ended up in prison and God blessed him.
I mean, at least he didn't end up dead.
What if he actually had committed adultery with Potiphar's wife?
God might have just been like, okay, now you're dead.
Now I'm just going to let him kill you.
I don't know what Egyptian law was, but, you know, he ended up in prison.
You say, well, how is that a blessing?
Well, if you know the story, it all worked together for good, didn't it?
And his latter end was very blessed.
But you have to endure those things.
You have to flee from these things in order to receive that blessing.
If not, if you say, well, no, I'm not going to flee.
You know, you won't be the first person to have fallen.
You know, some of you young people, you want to just cast off everything you've been taught in this church and by your parents.
You wouldn't be the first kid that I've seen grow up in a godly home and go out and just become a raging whatever.
I can point you to young people that I saw grow up in good godly homes that are out there marching up and down the streets for abortion.
As far as I know, we're probably sodomites.
You wouldn't be the first, you know, and you wouldn't be the last.
But the good news is you don't have to be either.
You know, you can be like Joseph. You can be blessed by God.
Is it going to be easy? No.
You can be blessed. You can avoid sin in your life by fleeing from it.
By being, you know, like Christ in the sense that when you are tempted, you appeal to the word of God.
You flee from sin. You avail yourself to the throne of grace.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for this great example of Joseph.
I know there's so many more lessons, Lord, we can learn from him.
But I thank you for this one, Lord, that you, Lord, have given to us.
That we are to be people that flee from sin, that we don't run towards it.
Lord, I pray you'd help us all to search our hearts, Lord.
And help us to get the sin out of our lives, Lord.
It's a continual process, we know.
It's something that we have to do day by day.
And, Lord, it will never be perfect and we thank you for that throne of grace.
We thank you for that compassion, the tender mercy.
We thank you for a high priest, Lord, like Christ, who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
We praise you and bless you for it in Christ's name, Amen.
Alright, we'll sing one more song before we go.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?