Transcription downloaded from https://sermonarchive.gfcbremen.com/sermons/78049/a-tale-of-2-men-the-7th-commandment/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Turn in your scriptures to Genesis. First of all, we're going to have two passages this morning.! Now, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.

[0:37] Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

[0:52] When the master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

[1:08] From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

[1:23] So he left in Joseph's care everything he had. With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now, Joseph was well built and handsome, and after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, Come to bed with me.

[1:44] But he refused. With me in charge, he told her, My master does not concern himself with anything in this house. Everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.

[1:57] No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

[2:10] And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even to be with her. One day, he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.

[2:28] She caught him by his cloak and said, Come to bed with me. But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants.

[2:43] Look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.

[3:00] She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story. That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.

[3:13] But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. When his master heard the story of his wife told him, saying, This is how your slave treated me, he burned with anger.

[3:27] Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. And then turn over to 2 Samuel 11.

[3:42] We'll start at verse 1. In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men, and the whole Israelite army.

[3:55] They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Reba. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace.

[4:06] From the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

[4:21] Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. She had purified herself from her uncleanness. Then she went back home.

[4:32] The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, I am pregnant. So David sent this word to Joab. Send me Uriah the Hittite.

[4:44] And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet.

[4:59] So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants.

[5:09] It did not go down to his house. When David was told Uriah did not go home, he asked him, Haven't you just come from a distance?

[5:20] Why didn't you go home? Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields.

[5:34] How could I go to my house and eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing. Then David said to him, Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.

[5:49] So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening, Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants.

[6:05] He did not go home. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it, he wrote, Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is the fiercest.

[6:17] Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.

[6:29] When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell. Moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. And then jump to verse 26.

[6:40] When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

[6:57] But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. Let's hear the word preached. Well, the Bible is an amazing book, isn't it?

[7:08] It not only teaches us by precept, but also by example. And how helpful an example is to us in anything.

[7:19] When we see the truth fleshed out in real life situations, by real people, in real situations like our own. So here we have the seventh commandment.

[7:32] It's a precept. You shall not commit adultery. But the Bible doesn't leave it there. It goes on to drive home this very precept by further words of explanation, but also by way of example.

[7:46] And I've chosen... And those examples come in two varieties. There are the good examples and the bad examples, and I've chosen one of each this morning to give us further light and help on this seventh commandment.

[8:03] They are, as you've heard read now, David and Joseph. And I'm calling this message a tale of two men and the seventh commandment.

[8:15] So, here are two men who lived in our world with real temptations to break the seventh commandment.

[8:26] One fell, the other stood. And we're meant to learn from both of them. Not just from the one who stood. We're meant to learn from the one who fell as well. Now, valuable lessons that would keep us from falling.

[8:42] Why did David fall? Why did Joseph stand? Well, we begin with David. And the opening verse of chapter 11 of 2 Samuel tells us that Israel was still at war with Ammon.

[8:58] Now, they had been at war with Ammon, but they had taken the winter off. I don't know if it was just kind of a thing to do. It sounds like in that region and those days that they took a break from war and went home and probably nursed their wounds and got ready for spring.

[9:15] But at the first signs of spring, there was the call back to war and to finish the job on Ammon. But it seems that months of ease in the palace might have left David a little sluggish and a little self-indulgent, for we're told that he stayed behind in the palace.

[9:36] At the very time when kings went forth to war, David sent Joab, the commander, and his armies and his men, but David himself stayed in Jerusalem.

[9:47] And most commentators agree that verse 1 is a criticism being leveled at David, that he should have been away at war, that that was his duty as king and commander-in-chief.

[10:00] And if he had not been negligent of his duty, this whole sordid affair that follows would not have happened. But David was not found at his duty, and it did happen.

[10:15] Now, the lesson should be clear. You've heard these words, haven't you? Idle time is the devil's workshop. I'm sure you've heard that. But now you get to see it by way of example.

[10:28] If you don't have anything good to do, the devil will find something for you to do. And I can assure you it won't be something good. You see, we're made to be busy.

[10:41] We were created to be busy. We were meant to be busy. We were meant to be productive. We were meant to be productive.

[11:00] We're meant to image God, the one who is always doing something and is very productive. We're meant to have a calling in life.

[11:15] Whatever that is, it's different, isn't it? For each of us. But we're meant to have a calling in life that we pursue to the glory of God, that we're busy with to serve God and others.

[11:28] And as Christians, we're called to be advancing the kingdom of God as our number one priority in life, to be actively involved in the life of the local church who's given this command to be advancing the kingdom, making disciples and teaching them to obey everything.

[11:47] We're to be contributing to that and to be loving and serving each other, to be busy, being useful to others. So that when temptation comes calling and finds us busy at our posts, we treat that temptation like a telemarketing call.

[12:09] Oh, don't have time for you. I'm busy. That's the way we're to respond to temptation. But when we're not found in our duties, we do have time to snoop around in this and to snoop around in that where our nose has no business snooping.

[12:29] And idleness tends to feed a self-indulgent spirit. And I wonder if that's not something that David picked up over the winter months. And when we're self-indulgent and idle, we're left exposed and we're far more vulnerable to temptation.

[12:49] So beware of idleness. Idle time and idle minds are fertile ground for Satan's weeds. There is a place for rest, but that is far different from idleness.

[12:59] So one evening, while David is at home in Jerusalem when he should have been out fighting the Ammonites, he got up from his bed and he strolled around on the roof of the palace.

[13:12] And from that vantage point, he looked out and his eyes fell upon a very beautiful woman bathing. But he immediately turned his head away and walked off the palace roof.

[13:24] And that was the end. Temptation conquered. No sin involved. And we say, if only. If only.

[13:35] as he was gazing out over his kingdom and saw that he would have done that. Chapters 11 and 12 in your Bible would read completely different as would the very rest of the letter with all the sordid things that dogged David and his family for the rest of his life as the consequences of not doing this.

[14:02] Turning away from the temptation. Such a small action. Just a few muscles to close the eyes.

[14:15] Just a few muscles to move the neck. To move your feet and get off the roof where such a view is possible. Such small actions. But such huge consequences for not making such small actions.

[14:31] It all came back to this. This not turning away. Now the Lord promises in all our temptations to make a way of escape.

[14:49] A way out of the temptation. Turning his eyes away was the way out for David. But that was the road not taken for David.

[15:06] Now we're going to follow the progression of sexual temptation and what we find is our second lesson. That temptation gains power every moment it is allowed to continue.

[15:23] Now this is not only true of sexual temptation. It's true of any temptation. The temptation gains strength and power over us every moment that we allow the temptation to continue.

[15:34] It's kind of like a snowball kids and you start the snowball at the top of the mountain and as it's rolling downhill as long as it's moving and rolling it's gathering weight and speed and force.

[15:46] So it is with a temptation. It's a devilish lie that's allowed to continue. It's a devilish lie that just one more look will be enough. It's not true because looking does not satisfy lust.

[16:03] It only inflames it and increases it. It's kind of like drinking salt water to quench your thirst. It doesn't.

[16:13] It just makes you thirstier still. And that being the case, it is never going to be easier to reject temptation than right now, the first time it comes.

[16:27] Because it's gaining steam and power with every moment you wait. Well, the very moment of the first temptation then is the first, is the critical time to look away, to look away.

[16:44] it was put in one book to bounce your eyes. So that just as when you touch a hot burner on the stove, if you bounce your hand off of it, you are not hurt, are you?

[16:56] No hurt comes to you. But if you linger, even for a while, you will pay the price. So we need to learn that as we're looking and suddenly our eyes fall upon something to bounce them immediately away.

[17:12] And David didn't do that, did he? He let it linger. David, you know she is not yours, so turn away now. Well, David ignored the way of escape.

[17:24] There it was, the way off the roof, and his glance became a gaze. You see, his first look that he couldn't help turned into a second look that he could help, and that ripened into a lustful stare.

[17:41] The more he looked, the more he wanted to look, and that explains the slavery, of addiction to pornography, of feeling helpless in its grip, that the more you feed inward lust, the stronger it grows, the stronger the temptation feels.

[17:56] James says that's why each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he's dragged away and enticed. The temptation grows so strongly it just drags you away and entices you.

[18:07] so it's crucial that in the words of Paul in Romans 13, 14, with any temptation, but this in particular, that we make no provision for the lusts of the flesh.

[18:21] Don't make any provision for them. You see, by looking again, he was feeding that. J. Adams translates this loosely as, don't buy groceries for the flesh. There's the flesh in you.

[18:33] And don't do anything to feed it, rather starve it. Don't so much as throw it a bone. Well, David threw it far more than a bone. He looks with lust, which is according to Jesus, the breaking of the seventh commandment in his heart.

[18:49] But it didn't stop there, did it? He saw a very beautiful woman bathing and because he didn't turn away, he sent someone to find out about her, to get some more information.

[19:04] about her. He saw, he sent. And we say, David, you're going in the wrong direction. You should be running from temptation, not running towards it.

[19:18] The information brought back, is this not Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Now, here's a kind mercy of God in opening up a second way of escape to David.

[19:33] She's the wife of someone else. And that means that the seventh commandment stands as a wall of protection around her and her husband.

[19:45] Don't you dare cross that line that God has put, that wall around this wife of another man. She's doubly off limits to David.

[19:58] You have no business there at all, David. and that should have been enough to end the matter again. Had he taken the way of escape? But he doesn't. And there was even more reason for turning away since she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of the thirty, one of David's elite warriors who had distinguished themselves by their exploits done for King David.

[20:26] David. Now, this was one faithful soldier. Even as we saw from the reading, his heart was with those men out on the battlefield, and right, even when he came back, as he was ordered to come back, and even now as David is seeking information on his wife, where's Uriah?

[20:44] He's out risking his life on a battlefield for David's kingdom. And would David stoop so low as to take advantage of his absence by violating his wife while he's off defending David's throne?

[21:01] And we know that he'll do worse than that, won't he, before it's all over, and actually order his murder on the battlefield. You see, lust burning within has destroyed reason up here in the mine, such that David brushes aside all the reasons for stopping and taking the way out.

[21:24] she's not my wife, so I have no business here. She's the wife of another. I doubly have no business here, and she's the wife of a faithful servant of mine.

[21:37] man. But when evil desire is so inflamed within, and the power of temptation has grown so strong, it doesn't matter who's standing in your way, it doesn't matter that the seventh commandment of God stands in your way, of almighty God, men will be willing to throw away a wife, a family, a ministry, a reputation, a witness for Christ, a job, to chuck it all.

[22:12] Such is the power of temptation. You see, the ball's rolling now. It's heavy. It's forceful. It's going fast. He saw, he sent, and now he sent again.

[22:27] Go get her for me. Clearly an abuse of power as king. And we see that abuse coming in later as well, as he abuses his role and authority as commander in chief and ordering her husband's murder on the battlefield.

[22:43] Here's an abuse of power. Go get her for me. And the text says that he sent other messengers, plural. That's interesting. Perhaps indicating that more than once was needed to convince her to come.

[22:58] We don't know. We really don't know anything about Bathsheba's state of mind in all of this. The attention is on David. He's the one being followed in this account.

[23:08] And we see what David was thinking and where David's mind was going. No one else's. And now the last dominoes fall quickly. He sent for her, she came to him, and he slept with her.

[23:22] Not even the seventh commandment of the holy God is a wall high enough to keep him out now. And in the words of the prophet Nathan in the next chapter, verses 9 and 10, we find that a man under the power of lust is willing to despise the Lord himself and his word.

[23:40] To treat God as a nothing, as a nobody, as if he has not said anything about what we're about to do. And folks, it all began with a look, didn't it?

[23:52] A look that was not bounced. A second look. And that's an important lesson for us from this text.

[24:03] If we would be kept from breaking the seventh commandment, out of the heart come adultery and sexual immorality. So above all things, guard the heart. And those gateways into it.

[24:17] The various gateways into our heart must be guarded. And the eye gate is one of the fastest ways to get into the heart and stir up lust within. Post a guard over your eyes.

[24:29] The apostle John warns us against the lust of the eyes. Jesus himself told us lustful looks are adultery in the heart. And righteous Job knew its danger and set a watch before his eyes saying, I've made a covenant with my eyes.

[24:44] I've made a contract with my eyes. I've said, eyes, you're not going to look lustfully at a woman. I don't care what you think. That's the covenant.

[24:54] That's the arrangement. And you've got to shape up and fall in line. Such was Job's awareness of the eye gate and its critical nature in this battle against adultery and sexual immorality.

[25:07] Now, sexual images are everywhere today. You can hardly buy bread without getting accosted on the way out through the checkout. Or turn the television on to watch a ball game and the advertisements are PG-13 or worse.

[25:28] It's everywhere. These images, images, television programs, movies, internet.

[25:39] And those images are aimed to stir up something inside. So don't give energy drinks to your inward lust. Don't imbibe in these things.

[25:51] Bounce your eyes. Turn it off. If we're to survive unharmed, we need to learn not to give the second look. Ever praying, turn my eyes away from worthless things.

[26:02] Renew my life according to your words. Turn my eyes away. Help me, Lord. Help me. I see my weakness. I feel it. Turn me and my eyes away. Now the Lord Jesus commands that we deal mercilessly with those that stir up lust on the inside.

[26:20] He says amputate. He says pluck them out. Cut them off. Now we don't amputate a hand because of a splinter in the finger, do we? Not usually. But if it turns into gangrene and threatens my whole arm and maybe my life, well I'm glad to amputate a hand.

[26:38] And when we hear Jesus dealing with the seventh commandment and using this idea of amputation, we realize just how dangerous this inward lust is in us.

[26:52] That any occasion, anything in my life that would feed that and stir it up needs to be amputated. The danger is real.

[27:02] How real? Jesus says hell. Better to go into heaven with one hand than to go into hell with two. Better to go into hell or heaven with one eye than to go into hell with two.

[27:18] Twice he speaks of the danger of hell connected to keeping the seventh commandment and guarding our eyes, guarding our lives against things that feed inward lust.

[27:34] So what lust-stirring materials need to be amputated out of your life? Show no mercy here, Jesus is saying, the knife. Maybe it's lustful thoughts.

[27:47] You know that the eye of imagination can be just as powerful as the eye, the outward physical eye. The knife to such lustful thoughts.

[28:00] If the eye can stir up lust within, then let me just have a time out with ladies and young girls and girls. And yes, men as well, but especially the ladies and the girls.

[28:15] Be careful how you dress. That's what the Bible says. The immoral woman in Proverbs 7 was dressed like a prostitute with crafty intent. Now, there's a difference between dressing attractively and dressing seductively.

[28:31] And young ladies, if you don't know the difference, ask. The older ladies are here to teach the younger women to be discreet and chaste. Chaste, discreet, proper.

[28:45] And they can help you. But you need to know that much of the fashion today is purposely designed to draw attention to parts of your body that will inflame lust in men and boys.

[28:59] That's just the way it is. That's the fashion that you're growing up with. Much of it designed to that end. And that means as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you must reject that fashion.

[29:12] And seek to be faithful to the Lord who pronounces a stiff judgment upon anyone who makes one of his to stumble. And you can cause someone to stumble by the way you dress, by the way that you act, by the way that you speak, by the look in your eye.

[29:30] Be careful as we're studying this seventh commandment. Maybe someone here is toying with temptation in a dangerous relationship. Maybe a person at work and it all starts so innocently, doesn't it?

[29:43] You just appreciate this person's enthusiasm for life, their bubbly joy, their kindness, their sympathy, their listening near, you enjoy their conversation and you begin to share your marriage problems.

[29:57] A felt attraction develops, flirtatious joking and looks, innocent little lunches, carpooling, being alone together, and you're playing with fire.

[30:11] And those who play with fire get burned. You're danger, you see, because as the temptation grows, the mind and reasoning soon is gone.

[30:23] out the window, fire, think of it as fire. I remember my dad telling that story, maybe you've heard it too, how as a young boy he was playing with fire in a vacant lot across the street and it was summer and it was all withered and dry and brown.

[30:44] He never intended to start a fire that would set the whole field ablaze and need to have the fire department come to put it out, he was just playing with fire. Remember how when the fire trucks came, they all said, Bobby did it, Bobby did it.

[31:02] Playing with lust is like playing with fire. It always goes further than what you meant for it to go. And the one who trusts himself in such situations, the Bible calls a fool.

[31:14] No, no. Don't even trust yourself in those circumstances. And so as we come to a chapter like 2 Samuel 11, you need to know as I need to know that there's nothing here that I'm not capable of.

[31:32] Oh, it could never happen to me. Do you know that such self-confidence is the first step down toward the fall? Thinking I can't fall here, I'm good here. That self-confidence itself will be your undoing.

[31:45] I can look at that. I can handle that. I can draw a line and go this far and no longer, no further. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

[31:58] Who is this man? Who is this king standing on his palace roof and lusting after someone else's wife? Why, he's the psalm singer of Israel.

[32:10] He's the one who wrote some of our favorite passages in the Bible. He's the one that God said, here's a man after my own heart. I want him to be king over my people. He will do what's right.

[32:22] David, who fought and killed Goliath by faith, conquered many foreign armies, was himself conquered by his own inward lust. And he did it as a mature believer, not a baby Christian, a mature believer.

[32:38] He could handle grisly giants. He couldn't handle a beautiful woman. You see, the believer never outgrows the need to watch and to pray.

[32:51] Never outgrows the need to be aware that there is evil desire in my heart. That's the teaching of Jesus and the apostle Paul. That I know that within me there is no good thing.

[33:03] That is in my flesh. That I have a part of me that wants what's forbidden. And it will be that way to the grave for me. And that caused the apostle Paul to say, oh, wretched man that I am.

[33:15] That that's true. That when I want to do good, I find evil in there. Saying, don't do the good, do the wrong. And that set up a battle in Paul. And he knows that it will go on to the last day.

[33:26] That's the holy apostle. Who writes so much of the New Testament. And we never get beyond the need to watch and pray. I heard the account of a godly old Scottish Bible professor who was asked by a student in class one day, Mr.

[33:51] McGorman, what's it like at your age to be beyond the pool of the sinful desires of youth? And he said, young man, I have no idea what you're talking about.

[34:04] No idea at all. It's a battle for moral purity and it will rage to the day we lay down our bodies in the grave and rise our spirits into the presence of Christ.

[34:25] That's why we must never toy with this temptation. Why we must always take the first escape out that God gives us. why we must avoid the very occasions of temptation and why we must flee sexual immorality and flee youthful lust which war against the soul.

[34:45] David didn't. So he fell and he fell hard and he paid an awful price. And that's the bad example of the seventh commandment. And it's left on the pages of our Bible so that you and I coming along 3,000 years later might learn from him what not to do and what to do instead.

[35:04] Now we won't spend so much time on the good example but let's go then to Joseph in Genesis 39 and I'm glad this is in our Bibles aren't you? It encourages us to know that there's grace in God to enable a healthy young man with normal ordinary desires to remain pure under great temptation.

[35:28] He was probably in his older teens maybe young 20s and we find many contrasts between David and Joseph. David's an older married man.

[35:38] Joseph's a younger single man. David's idle at home in Jerusalem. Joseph is busy far from home in Egypt. David's a king. Joseph's a slave.

[35:50] But they both had this in common. They faced sexual temptation. David fell. Joseph stood. What made the difference?

[36:01] Let's look for the answers to that question as we go through the account. We find Joseph first of all busy at his post don't we? As a servant and then as a household manager of Potiphar's house.

[36:15] There he is. He's faithful in his duties. He's doing what he's supposed to do as a slave and the Lord saw that and he blessed that. He said that is good. That's how I mean for man to live and to work and so the Lord heaped blessing on everything he did.

[36:31] Potiphar couldn't help but see it and he elevates him to be the household steward. He puts everything in charge of everything that he had.

[36:44] Now it seems that his manual labor had developed his muscular apparatus and made him quite the fine specimen to look at. He was well built we're told.

[36:55] He was cut. He was shredded. He was jacked as my son says. And that's not all. He was also handsome. So he had it all going for him.

[37:08] Well built and handsome together. But his fine appearance came with a price didn't it? For it soon made him the target of unwelcome advances for Mrs. Potiphar.

[37:23] Peter. And we learn then that fine appearance though it's what everyone's seeking after it comes with great danger and not many are able to survive it.

[37:36] But the grace of God is able to make even a well built handsome young man to remain morally pure. That's encouraging to us.

[37:48] And we learn as well don't we that lustful looking is not just a guy thing as Mrs. Potiphar proves. Well she lusted after him and brazenly invited him to bed with her.

[38:03] And this is the way of the wayward wife in Proverbs 7 with her seductive words. Isn't it something how frank the Bible is with us? That's what you should expect from wayward women.

[38:14] The wayward wife has seductive words. And she's brought down many victims and slain many a mighty throng. And the Proverbs show us there in chapter 7 one young man just meandering along idle sauntering past her house.

[38:32] And she puts the moves on him and he took the bait and went as an ox to the slaughter. And it says with persuasive words she led him astray. She seduced him with her smooth talk.

[38:44] So here's Mrs. Potiphar offering herself to Joseph with her smooth talk. But those words were no sooner out of her mouth but that Joseph spoke back to her with a firm refusal.

[38:57] Say that's different from what we saw as David lighted upon this beauty bathing. If he had just answered and refused with such strength as Joseph it had been a different story.

[39:08] Joseph immediately doesn't lallygag doesn't say well I'll think about it. He doesn't let it toy with his and grow in his mind but he refuses her at once slamming the door shut before she could even get a toe in the door.

[39:25] And we read in the New Testament that it is the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to worldly passions. There is a grace of God in the gospel that enables us to say no to just such things.

[39:38] That's the grace that we find in Joseph here. Alive and active in this young man. In other words the bucket in his mind was full of water to douse the fire of lust that she seeks to blow up into a flame.

[39:58] And he nails down his refusal with powerful reasons. He doesn't just say no but he gives her reasons why it's a definite no. Two reasons. Number one my master's kindness and trust in me.

[40:11] In his kindness he's elevated me to the highest place in the house. He's not withheld anything from me. He's trusted with me with everything. Everything he owes you alone he has withheld from me.

[40:25] And so rightly so because you're his wife after all. You're not mine. You're his and it would be the height of ingratitude and a gross injustice to Potiphar to repay his kindness and trust in me in this way.

[40:39] I will not. But it would not only be a grievous thing to do to my master Potiphar. Reason number two it would be a wicked thing to do against my God.

[40:52] And he's the one who by the seventh commandment has erected a wall around you and Potiphar. It's my God that has spoken you see.

[41:04] It's him who now I realize that this is Genesis and the law comes down but God gave the law to Adam and Eve in the garden. It was simply written down in Exodus 20 but the moral law was written upon the very hearts of people.

[41:20] This wasn't something unknown to Joseph and that's why he's so strong. He knows this is my God and he's the one who forbids me to have you. And how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

[41:36] In other words Mrs. Potiphar this would not only be a sin against you and against Mr. Potiphar but more than anything it is a wicked sin against God.

[41:47] He understands it. What is sin? It's breaking God's laws and this is one of God's laws and how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against him? God who's been so good to me who's been with me on this crazy journey when I was sold into slavery and who's been helping me and preserving and protecting my life and blessing me.

[42:10] Everything I touch turns to gold and it's why I've been exalted in this house and raised to such a position as the household steward. And here I am a mere slave far from home.

[42:23] How could I ever do such a wicked thing against such a good and gracious God? Could I repay his kindness by sinning against him?

[42:34] And you see those are the thoughts. What does this temptation do? It opens a window into the heart and mind of Joseph. What is this well-built, handsome young man thinking about?

[42:45] He's thinking about the goodness of his God. He's thinking how everything he has is due to his love and kindness and blessing in his life so that when the temptation comes, we see right into the heart and he says this is why.

[42:58] It's a firm no. It's a firm no. There were thoughts of his God ruling in his heart at the moment of temptation. And that kept him from being seduced and it held his lust in check.

[43:17] You're the wife of another. Now David was told the same thing, wasn't he? And it didn't have that effect upon him. Well, Joseph saw God, his holy law, his kindness, his goodness.

[43:28] David only saw Bathsheba. And his lust blinded him from seeing God or caring anything about God at that moment. Well, Mrs.

[43:38] Potiphar is persistent if she's anything. And she's not put off by his initial refusal, is she? She sees him as a prize to conquer. So she continues in her campaign to seduce him.

[43:49] Come to bed with me. Come to bed with me. She knows that a no today might be a maybe tomorrow and a yes two days from now. So day after day, she's trying to wear down Joseph's resistance with her seductive offers.

[44:04] You know, it is one thing to say no to sin once, and quite another thing to say no to it over and over and over again. Daily, day by day she was doing this to him.

[44:19] You know what that tells me? It tells me there's grace in God to help a young man to say no to sin continually, not just once, but over and over as often as the temptation comes, slam the door.

[44:35] And now he adds to his refusal the avoidance of the occasion of temptation. Do you see that? Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her and even be with her.

[44:47] That's the amputation. Not even going to be close to this woman. She's a dangerous woman. I don't trust my own heart. There's gunpowder here and she's got more than sparks flying at me.

[44:58] I'm staying away from her. Good for you, Joseph. If only David had been moving that direction away rather than toward how differently his life had been.

[45:13] You know, we can never sincerely pray the Lord's prayer. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Unless we are doing what Joseph did.

[45:26] And avoiding the occasion of temptation. We can't say, Lord, deliver me from temptation and then go sauntering right into it, full knowing what we're doing. No, that's to mock God in prayer.

[45:39] Joseph would not do that. He does not even want to be near her. Well, as slave of the household, he couldn't avoid her completely, could he?

[45:53] That's where he works and he's not free to get another job. Remember, he's a slave. He's been purchased. And so one day as he went into the house to attend to his duties, good for him, but none of the household servants were inside and she sees her opportunity and pounces like a cat.

[46:09] She lays hold of him, catches him by the cloak and once more makes her offer up close this time. Now, this was the hardest refusal that Joseph gives yet. It comes after many knocks on the door and it's the close up strongest words from her yet.

[46:32] And I would say that if Joseph was having a bad day spiritually, he might have fallen this time. But he's still watching and praying and he's still armed with the armor of God and he still holds fast to his refusal against sinning against God.

[46:52] You see, his heart is still in that frame. How could I ever do such a thing to my God? Oh, God, give me that heart. Not just on Sunday when I'm hearing all about you and my heart feels like that's an unthinkable thing.

[47:06] I could never do it. Give me that on Monday and Wednesday and Thursday night and Friday morning. So whenever temptation comes knocking you'll find that heart full of God's love and goodness to me full of his commandments and authority over me.

[47:23] That's unthinkable. How could I even imagine doing that? What you're suggesting? Oh, let's guard our hearts. Keep them in that frame as we find in Joseph.

[47:36] this scene sheds light on those words flee sexual immorality. Flee. And that's what we in that here's the example.

[47:46] Those are that's the precept first Corinthians six flee sexual immorality. Here's the example. He literally is running for his life. And that's what you need to do sometimes.

[47:57] It's not the time to stop and discuss the reasons for not. No, no, it's time to run. Just run for your life. Joseph leaves his coat.

[48:08] Isn't it somehow Joseph gets in trouble with his coat with his brothers and many colors. Now he's got another coat. But he doesn't value. What he wants is God smile in his life.

[48:19] And he knows if I'm to maintain that that pure life before my God that he can smile and say that's what I like. That he's got to run out of temptation and avoid the situation all together.

[48:32] Those who linger lose those who delay go down. So I'm asking you before the eyes of him who sees in secret what is there that you know now you must turn from and run that you must amputate and have out of your life whatever it is that feeds your sinful desires among you there must not even be a hint not even a hint of sexual immorality Ephesians 5 3 well Joseph pays a price for his moral purity doesn't he because his spurned adulteress turns on him and accuses him of abuse that lands him in jail and I'm not speaking into any one case when I say this but please hear me out this is surely an example of why we cannot take all claims of abuse as being the truth we're given an example in Genesis 39 of a claim that was nothing but a fabrication of lies and again I say I'm not applying that to any one individual just put it in your mind and remember that when we have a culture and a situation when any claim to abuse is given the stamp of truth not so she's lying through her teeth she was the!

[49:50] Joseph was the one running and she turns the whole story on him we must look into it we must investigate but though it cost him to remain pure and though he's in jail and he'll be there for a couple years you know what he had he had the favor of God who continues to bless him and smile upon him and that's worth more than anything else and God then turned his prison into a right into Pharaoh's palace whereas David well he's not in jail he's in the palace with the woman of his lust he's got what he wanted but he also has the displeasure of God that's how the chapter ends the thing that he had done displeased the Lord and it would be nine months before he repents and seeks and finds mercy with the Lord and there is mercy with Jesus there is mercy with the Lord because he died for adultery he died for the sin of adultery isn't that wonderful and we still use

[50:57] David's 51st psalm today for our own repenting so what have we seen this morning from these two examples the Lord has given us on the seventh commandment from David we learned that like him we are all weak enough to fall and from Joseph we we see one idly out of the place of duty the other busy at his calling we see one flirting with temptation the other fleeing temptation we see one seeking the occasions of temptation the other avoiding them we see the Lord's way of escape rejected by one and quickly taken by the other we see one in the temptation forgetting the Lord and the other fearing the Lord is David saw a beautiful woman and forgot about his God and we're in big trouble when we forget our God Joseph even while this woman was coming on to him saw his

[51:59] God what a heart that he can look through her and see God is with me God is here I must not I cannot sin against him David saw the woman Joseph saw his God here's a man living!

[52:16] Before the face of God he had set the Lord always before him his eye was ever on him which is to say Joseph was living in the fear of God wasn't he he saw him everywhere he esteemed him above everything he dreaded nothing more than displeasing him he wanted nothing more than his approving smile on his life then I need to God's grace to say no to worldly passions but yesterday's grace won't do for today's temptation I need fresh grace to say no to sin and temptation today I need more grace and that's what God promises to give he gives more grace do you need more grace is there more temptation today he gives more grace but who does he give it to the humble God opposes the proud but he gives!

[53:02] it to the humble! you know one of the scary things about this whole thing is that we're not told when we wake up in the morning that you're going to face a temptation today that could define much of the rest of your life if you fall no it just came upon David and it found him unawares another scary thing is that David knew all this stuff he wrote the book on communion with God the book of Psalms it proves to us that he knew the joy of walking in the light of God's presence he knew the word of God he treasured it he hid it in his heart that he might not sin against God but somewhere during those winter months David had drifted from the Lord he lost his close walk with God he grown as cold as the winter!

[54:08] there's usually many small steps leading up to such a fall or I should say leading down to such a fall a gradual cooling of the heart for Christ a growing distance between us and the Lord and perhaps in the softness of palace life he no longer felt his real need for the Lord when he's out there in the battle and he's got ducking spears and swords he needs the Lord heart but in palace life maybe he grew self indulgent self confident I really don't need to pray as much as I used to I don't really need to dive into the word of God and every day bring my heart under the Lordship of God's word I know what's in the Bible I've memorized much of it maybe he told him I don't need the means of grace so much I don't need to go to worship I don't need the church I don't need my brothers and sisters so much you see it's all sorts of little steps like that

[55:10] I don't need to avoid the tempting situations I can handle that and what's happening he's cutting corners isn't he he's cutting corners and it's going to catch up with him he's letting his guard down he's compromising just a little bit just letting the cares of the world choke out the word and the effect is the slow erosion of his close heart walk with God and a glowing heart of love to him that would say how could I ever do such a wicked thing against God he lost that he drifted and it may have all happened so imperceptibly to him that he even little!

[55:47] knew of his loss and little knew of his vulnerability until one evening he rose and saw a beautiful woman bathing and he found himself like Samson with his haircut that his strength to fight was gone and he was soon down may the Lord help us to guard our hearts to keep our hearts near the Lord Jesus every day to make good use of the Lord's day thinking of all that Jesus has done he has gone to the cross for me to take my penalty for my lustful sins he he's gone to the cross to break the power of sin in my life in this very area of sexual immorality he's risen from the dead to give resurrection power to me and to give his Holy Spirit to me and we on this day we're gathering up Lord how could

[56:49] I ever sin against you when I've just seen in the power of the cross that you were damned in my place but it can it can fade can it by Wednesday Thursday drift happens and we need to keep our hearts you see under the spell of God's love and goodness and authority over us that's the fear of God that we need to learn to walk in and we're going to conclude with a song that cries out for just that I want a principle within it's from the overhead stand with me as we're going to sing it we're crying for a principle within a powerful principle within a watchful godly fear a sensibility to sin a pain to feel it near a childlike awe a tender conscience grace to stand grace that makes the wounded whole and brings us back to the Lord Jesus who can forgive us let's sing it together let's pray we thank you father that in your word we learn of your grace grace that enables us to stand against all sorts of temptation and we thank you that we also learn that when we have fallen under all sorts of temptation that there is grace to be found in

[58:07] Jesus Christ grace that is greater than all of our sin and that cleanses us from all iniquity so send us on our way rejoicing in your grace and fill our hearts up with a sense of awe and wonder and all of your goodness to us that whenever temptation comes knocking the rest of this day and this week we would have a quick no with a heart that wants to please our God we ask in his name in Jesus name amen amen amen!

[58:42]  up