Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Our culture is obsessed with heroes. I was talking to my buddy, Mike, who is a part of our church here at Amelia. He works at the movie theater in Milford. He told me at one point recently, there were six different superhero movies showing at the theater at the same time. When The Dark Knight was released, Milford was showing it on eight screens. Right now in America, we are all about the hero.

But this summer here at Amelia, we’re talking about real life heroes. We’re going back to the Old Testament in the Bible and exploring the lives of some classic heroes of God. God has been teaching us his truth through the lives of these heroes all summer.

Last week, we went way back in the Old Testament, almost to the very beginning. We talked about two brothers, one who was a hero and one who was anything but. The brothers were Cain & Abel. Cain was a selfish, scheming murderer. He killed his brother Abel, who was the first hero in the Bible.

Today, we’re going back to one of my very favorite people in Scripture. This guy’s heroic acts for God absolutely blow me away every time I read them.

Today we go back to the story of Joseph. Actually, the story of Joseph is so long and so detailed that we simply don’t have time to get through his life story in one message. I could try, but it would probably feel like you’re trying to drink from a fire hose. There would be a lot coming at you, but you wouldn’t be able to get much out of it.

So instead, we’re going to go back to just one of the defining moments in Joseph’s life. It is a story that has had a profound impact on my life. The heroic truth of this story really does have the power to change us. So let’s pray and we’ll dive into it.

Today we’re going to be in Genesis 39. But even though we’re talking about one specific story from Joseph’s life, we still need a little background on him to really understand what is happening.

Joseph was the son of Jacob, one of the patriarchs of the nation of Israel that God would later establish. Joseph’s brothers were very jealous of him, because Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. So the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. Joseph was taken to Egypt by the slave traders, where he was sold again…this time to Potiphar. Potiphar was a high ranking official in Egypt. He was captain of the guard for the Pharaoh.

Joseph became a rising star in Potiphar’s household. Everything Joseph did prospered. Potiphar was so impressed with him that he eventually put Joseph in charge of the entire household. Joseph was in charge of everything Potiphar owned.

That’s where we pick up the story in Genesis 39. Joseph is totally focused on his work in Potiphar’s house. He has no idea that he’s about to run smack into an incredible temptation. You see, Potiphar’s wife had taken notice of Joseph. I mean, she really noticed him. And one day, out of the blue, she makes a play for him, inviting him to come to bed with her.

His reaction to her advances is one of the biggest reasons why Joseph is one of my favorite heroes in the Bible. Sexual sin has the power to turn our lives into a train wreck. A lot of you are carrying scars from past sexual sins. A lot of you are involved in sexual sin today. All of us need to take the truth from Joseph’s life and apply it to our lives today. There is freedom from the chains of sexual sin. Joseph will show us the way as we walk with him through the progression of temptation.

We start with the beginning of the temptation. How we react to temptation right out of the gate will go a long way to determine the ultimate outcome. Joseph was blindsided by this temptation. He didn’t seek it out. It sought him out. And yet, he was ready for it.

Starting in Genesis 39:6, the Bible says, “So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!

Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.” (Genesis 39:6-7, NLT)

Wow. This woman doesn’t beat around the bush, does she? She wants Joseph, and she wants to be sure that he knows that in no uncertain terms.

Joseph is in a tough spot here. First of all, his master has a great deal of faith and trust in him. Sleeping with his wife would destroy all that he had achieved.

But on the other hand, Potiphar’s wife could make big trouble for him. She had authority over him. And if he scorned her, she could make things very bad for him. If she were to accuse him of something, everyone would believe her. Remember, as high as Joseph had risen in Potiphar’s house, he was still a slave. As a slave, his word would have no merit against the word of an Egyptian citizen.

And we also have to remind ourselves that Joseph was human. He was probably no older than 18 at the time. And even though the Bible tells us that he was handsome and well-built, in other words, hot…he had most likely never even had a girlfriend. Now, this beautiful woman of power and influence wanted him, and she wanted him badly. Nothing is as exciting to a man as when a woman finds him irresistibly attractive. When a woman wants a man, it sets off fireworks inside of him.

When it comes to temptations, this one was the big dog. If Joseph would have had sex with Potiphar’s wife, he could have justified it any number of ways. But in spite of all of that, look at what happened next.

“Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” (Genesis 39:6b-9, NLT)

That’s a hero. That’s how a hero responds when temptation begins.

Joseph’s response is multi-layered, so we need to break it apart to get the full impact.

First of all, Joseph refused to go to bed with her because of his respect for his master, Potiphar.

Joseph told her, “Look, my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do.” (Genesis 39:8-9a, NLT)

Potiphar had placed so much faith and trust in Joseph. How could he violate that trust?

Secondly, and more importantly, Joseph refused her because of his honor for marriage.

Joseph told her, “[Potiphar] has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.” (Genesis 39:9b, NLT)

This one really had to sting with Potiphar’s wife. Joseph essentially said, “You are my master’s wife. Even if you don’t honor your marriage, I do. You may be willing to violate your marriage vows, but you won’t do it with me.” Ouch.

But finally, and most importantly, Joseph wouldn’t sleep with her because of his commitment to God.

He said, “How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” (Genesis 39:9c, NLT)

This is where we really get to see what is in Joseph’s heart. This is what made him a hero. He had this incredible temptation right in front of him. A beautiful woman who was ready and willing to do whatever he wanted her to do. He didn’t even have to pursue her. She was pursuing him!

Honestly, his first two reasons for turning down her advances weren’t enough. His respect for Potiphar and his honor for marriage…those reasons were good. Those reasons were right. But those reasons were not enough. Without a commitment to God, without a heart that is sold out to honoring him, serving him, pleasing him, I have no doubt that Joseph would have caved at this temptation.

Morals, even morals that are decent and right and good, aren’t enough. If we pursue morality apart from God, it will be a house of cards. Morality has to have a baseline, a foundation to build upon. The foundation is faith in God. Obedience to his Word. A desire to please and honor Jesus in our lives.

When it comes to temptation, especially sexual temptation, if this isn’t the foundation we’re building our lives on, we’re going to fall. Apart from God, we are simply not strong enough to resist it.

Joseph was 17 or 18 at the time of this temptation. A young man in his prime, sexually speaking.

Psalm 119 asks the key question. “How can a young man keep his way pure?” (Psalm 119:9a, NIV)

How in the world can we resist the pull of sexual sin? How can we stand up against it and keep our lives pure?

The psalmist answers his own question. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” (Psalm 119:9, NIV)

If you try to go it alone, if you try to navigate the waters of sexual temptation apart from God and the principles in his Word and the power of his Spirit, you are going to fail. And failure in this particular area will wreak havoc on your life. It will cause incredible pain in your life and in the lives of others.

Go back to what Joseph said to Potiphar’s wife. He said, “How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” (Genesis 39:9c, NLT)

If Joseph had sex with this woman, he recognized what it would be: a sin against God. He called it what it was: a sin. That’s not what we normally see in our culture that is the most sexually-saturated and yet sexually-confused culture on the planet.

The word “sin” never enters into the equation because we’ve been conditioned by our culture. Instead, we normally justify our actions.

I use porn, but so does everybody else I know.

I messed around with my boyfriend, but it’s not like we went “all the way.”

Oh, we’re just friends. Friends with benefits.

Of course we moved in together. We’re going to get married someday.

I know she’s a married woman, but she is smokin’ hot. And things at home aren’t that good anyway.

At every turn, we try to justify our actions. And because we never call it a sin, then it’s never a problem we have to deal with. And because we never deal with it, it runs on unchecked in our lives. And when it goes unchecked, it winds up destroying us.

Let’s talk about some of those justifications I just mentioned.

I use porn, but so does everyone else I know. The average exposure to pornography in America now happens at age 11. 11 years old. The largest consumer group of internet porn is people between the ages of 12-17. We have an entire generation growing up where pornography is the norm.

Porn is everywhere…literally. From websites to billboards to magazine covers in the checkout line at Kroger. David Amsden says that pornography has become the “wallpaper” of our lives.

More money is spent on porn in our nation than the money spent on country music, rock music, jazz music, classical music, Broadway plays, and ballet combined.

More money is spent on porn than on pro baseball, basketball, and football (including the Super Bowl) combined.

The adult film industry cranks out 11,000 films every year. That is 20 times the number of films that are put forth by mainstream Hollywood.

The number one search word on various internet search engines is sex.

70% of internet porn traffic happens between 9:00am-5:00pm. While people are supposed to be at work, but they are instead using their company’s high speed internet connection to access pornography.

Porn is literally everywhere. It has reached epidemic status in our culture.

But what those stats don’t tell you is the destructive force it has on our lives. It doesn’t tell you the story of a young man who has been so warped by pornography that he’ll never have a healthy sexual relationship in his life.

It doesn’t tell you about the wife who is destroyed because her husband is more turned on by his laptop than by having her on his lap.

It doesn’t tell you about young girls who now feel like they’ve got to look and act like a porn star to even get a guy’s attention.

Most of all, it doesn’t tell you the truth of Christ, who said, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28, NIV)

I realize that some of you don’t want to hear this today. But I love you too much to let you keep justifying the sin in your life. Using porn is a sin. It will cause you and the people you love pain. It will derail everything God wants for your life.

How about this justification? Well, we didn’t go all the way.

That thinking reduces sex to a physical act. As long as certain body parts don’t meet certain other body parts, you’re fine. I actually went to college with people who believed that. Did you catch that? I went to BIBLE College with people who believed that.

I remember talking with a guy in the dorm and he was telling me about his latest escapades with his girlfriend. And it was all good, because they didn’t “do it.”

If sex was just a mere physical act, then maybe this would hold some truth for us. But we are more than just a conglomeration of body parts. We are both physical and spiritual. And the act of sex is both physical and spiritual. Reducing it to, “it’s ok if these body parts touch, but not if these body parts touch” is absolutely ridiculous. Jesus said if there is lust in your heart, you are an adulterer. Stop trying to find the loophole. It’s not there.

What about this? Of course we moved in together. We’re going to get married someday.

The number of American households with unmarried cohabiting couples has risen 72% over the last decade. Living together was once taboo, but now it is simply a marriage test-drive. It is viewed as a good way to ensure a successful marriage relationship.

Actually, it has the opposite effect. Statistically speaking, if you had 100 couples who are living together, 40 will break up before the marriage, and 45 will divorce or separate after the marriage. That leaves only 15 lasting marriages out of the original 100 couples. Not very good odds.

And there’s a reason those statistics exist…because it’s not the way God designed things to work.

Hebrews 13 tells us, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…” (Hebrews 13:4, NIV)

God created sex. And he created sex for marriage. Inside a committed married relationship, sex is wonderful. That is absolutely nothing dirty or sinful about it. You can be holy and have the hottest sex life imaginable if you are in a monogamous married relationship.

God isn’t the one who made sex a dirty topic. He created it as good. We are the ones who perverted it. We are the ones who took it outside the boundaries that God intended.

Sex was designed for marriage. Not for a casual fling. Not for friends with benefits. Not for dating. Not even for cohabiting before marriage. By the Lord’s design, sexual relations are strictly reserved for one man, one woman, in a marriage, for life. Anything outside of that is outside of God’s plan, therefore it is sinful. For some of you, this is revolutionary stuff. Because you’ve been conditioned by our culture instead of by the truth of God’s Word.

And so what do we do? There’s all this sexual misunderstanding and misconceptions around us. The temptation chases after us every single day. What do we do? Let’s go back to Joseph. Joseph would understand where we’re coming from, because his temptation wasn’t a one-time deal either.

Instead, his temptation escalated over time. That’s the thing about temptations for sexual sin. They never go away. They are always there, and most of the time, they keep escalating in intensity.

Look at verse 10 in our story. “And though [Potiphar’s wife] spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.” (Genesis 39:10, NIV)

Everyday, there she was, trying to seduce Joseph. Everyday, the temptation ramped up a little bit more. Everyday he refused it, but did you catch the last part of the verse?

He refused to go to bed with her, or even be with her. Joseph knew that, although he had resisted the temptation up to this point, that he had to protect himself. There could always be that moment of weakness where he would fall. So, he built a barrier between himself and the temptation. He designed it so he wouldn’t even be around her.

I do this in my own life. I never meet with a woman alone. If I have a counseling session with a woman, there is always someone else in the building and the door stays open. If a woman doesn’t agree to that, then we don’t meet at all. It protects her and it protects me. I build as many walls as I can.

When it comes to the sexual temptations in our lives, this is the key. Build walls. Design it so you can’t access a private computer. Put a filter or accountability software on your computer. Never be alone with someone with whom there is a strong sexual temptation. In fact, don’t be alone with someone of the opposite sex period. Instead of asking “how far can we go,” ask “when can we start?” The answer is you start when you’re married. Stay out of situations that encourage you to start too early.

Build walls, put up the necessary barriers between you and your sexual temptations. Joseph didn’t trust himself enough to be alone with Potiphar’s wife. Don’t trust yourself with your temptation. Realize that you are a sinful, broken person who has moments of weakness. Plan for it ahead of time. If you wait until you’re in the heat of the moment to make your decision, you will choose wrong. Build the walls ahead of time.

But we also have to know that, while building these walls or barriers is a necessity, it’s not foolproof. It doesn’t always work.

Look at Joseph’s final temptation. Potiphar’s wife had been stepping up her advances. The temptations were getting more and more intense. Joseph tried to protect himself by never being alone with her. But she figured out his game and she did a little scheming of her own.

Verse 11 in our story: “One day [Joseph] went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. [Potiphar’s wife] 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.” (Genesis 39:11-12, NIV)

Potiphar’s wife had devised a plan to get all the other servants out of the house, unbeknownst to Joseph. She found a way around his wall. Sometimes temptations can do that. Despite your best wall-building efforts, the temptation still nails you. What do you do then?

You do the only thing you can do. You run. Potiphar’s wife caught Joseph by the cloak, but he tore himself away and ran, leaving the cloak in her hand. Essentially, Joseph ran out in his underwear. But his clothes didn’t matter as much as his integrity and his holiness. He ran.

I love the way the King James Version puts it. “…he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.” (Genesis 39:12b, KJV) Joseph ran and got himself out of that dangerous situation.

That’s exactly what God tells us to do in 1 Corinthians. “Flee from sexual immorality. [Flee. Run. Get yourself out of there.]

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:18-19a, NIV)

A lot of people have used this “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” verse to teach that you shouldn’t drink or smoke, or overeat. Just understand that to do that is to take this verse out of context. Paul is talking specifically about sexual sins. The reason is that these sins carry a particularly high price tag. Can drinking in excess harm your body? Yes. Can a smoking addiction or overeating harm your body? Of course. But this is different.

All sin is equal in that all sin separates us from God. But the price we pay here on earth can vary between different sins. And Paul tells us that sexual sin carries an extra high price tag in our lives. Sexual sin creates a physical, emotional, and spiritual bond with someone or something other than your spouse. And there are lifelong consequences attached to that.

Now, listen to what Paul says next in 1 Corinthians 6. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20, NIV)

You are not your own. You belong to Jesus. You were bought at a price. The extremely high price paid for you was the blood of Christ. Therefore, how could you do anything other than honor God with your body?

I realize this has been a tough day for some of you because of the scars you’re still carrying from past sexual mistakes. But hear this truth. You were bought at a price. Jesus paid for you with his own blood. Your ransom has been paid. He bought you to set you free. You can be freed from your sexual past. The shame, the bondage, the guilt can all be taken away because Jesus died for your sins on the cross. He didn’t die to just take away some of your sins. His blood is sufficient to pay the price for any and all of the sin in your life.

And that includes the sins you are committing today. Some of you aren’t carrying scars of a poor sexual past. You are carrying around a sinful sexual present. You’re involved in sexual sin right now. You were bought at a price which was high enough to set you free from the grip of sin…whatever that sin is.

You are not your own. You were bought at a price. It’s time for you to stop living on your own. Because like we’ve said all morning, left to yourself, you’re going to mess this up. You will fall into some kind of sexual sin. You will.

But you’re not on your own. Jesus gave his life so you wouldn’t have to go through your life alone. The cross doesn’t just mean eternal life with God. It means doing life with God now. God, who can forgive any sin. God, who can set you on the path to freedom from whatever ever sin is wrecking your life today.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Heroes, Genesis 39, Joseph, living together, pornography, sex, sin, temptation