WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.280 Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:11.119 Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039 We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:19.120 To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.880 Take your Bibles and turn them to Genesis chapter 39. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:37.920 Yeah, as you're turning there, just a couple of updates I'll share. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:41.200 Be in prayer for the Parsons family. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.479 About 6 o'clock this morning, I received a phone call. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:48.719 Darren Parsons' father passed away early this morning. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.200 So lift that family in your prayers. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:53.200 I know they would appreciate that. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.159 Many of you called or text me throughout the week on updates about my dad. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:05.280 If you're here and you weren't last week, my father was in a burn accident and he is in recovery. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.640 The skin grafts took in the surgery the other day. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.040 And so I think it's as good as it can be if you are praying. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:18.879 He's had a temperature reach about 100, and that's the body's fighting, but they don't like that. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:24.400 So if you would keep him in your prayers, his name is Rick also, would appreciate that. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.319 And then a couple things on a lighter note. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:32.079 Yesterday we had some birthdays from church. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:34.239 Eli's wife, Kirby. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.040 So if you see her, I think she's serving. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.680 I don't see her right now, but you do tell her happy birthday. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.319 And Christy Wilson also had a birthday. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:47.280 And tomorrow, Callie Wright turns 19. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:48.959 So that's a good birthday. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.040 Y'all wish her happy birthday. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.439 Let's all give them a round of applause. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:06.400 I'll give one commercial before we jump into the message, and that is uh we have a next steps class for anyone who's interested in becoming a member of CCW. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:07.599 That is today. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:09.199 Some have registered. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:10.319 Um, some have not. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.680 If you're planning to attend, I believe there will be food. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.199 Uh there's lunch afterward. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.439 There will be food for more than have registered. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:21.520 And so I was trying to get it on that. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:26.400 But if you haven't, just uh planned to come, and we would love for you to uh jump into that. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:31.599 Genesis chapter 39, and we're gonna be looking further. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:39.360 We looked at the line of character last week, and I asked the serve team this morning an important life-altering, important question. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:43.039 How much garlic is okay in your bowl of cereal? 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:47.120 Not much, right? 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:54.000 I took it a step further that I won't take with you, but how much of something impure is okay? 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:55.360 How much? 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:02.560 Oscar Wilde said, I can resist everything except temptation. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:11.439 The Bible lists three types of sin and categories: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:20.400 And what we're going to look at in this passage, actually, two of those categories intersect, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:30.400 Lust of the eyes is something you see that you desire to have, and the lust of the flesh is desiring something for sexual or fleshly gratification. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:35.520 And so we are going to be looking at the two of those things intersecting. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:43.520 And there in Genesis chapter 39, as you start your notes, the first thing you're going to see is a reckless proposition. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:49.280 Genesis 39, look down there at verses 6 through 8, and then we'll pray. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:04:00.960 It says that, and we saw this at the end last week, thus he, Potiphar, left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.919 Now Joseph, this is important, was handsome in form and appearance. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:12.800 And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.520 And she said, Lie with me. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:24.879 But he refused and said to his master's wife, Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has into my hand. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.560 Would you pray with me? 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:34.160 Father, we love you, and God, we are grateful and thankful to be in your house this morning. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:41.519 Lord, I pray that you would uh give us sensitive hearts and ears to hear your word, Lord. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:53.680 I pray if there is somebody in here that is struggling, Lord, if there's people in here, God, that need to hear this truth, that God, you would awaken that in them. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:55.040 And Lord, change us. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:00.160 Help us not to leave this place today the same as we came. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:02.000 We love you in Jesus' name. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:02.879 Amen. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.519 Letter A of that reckless proposition is longing eyes. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:17.759 It says, I talked about this the other week, there's 3,400 unique names listed in the Bible, and seven of those names are listed as beautiful men. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:20.639 Ladies, can you imagine? 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:32.399 And Joseph and Daniel, who were both listed in the visionary and dreamers who could interpret dreams, those two men are also listed as beautiful, good-looking, handsome men. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:38.240 So, ladies, Joseph was easy on the eyes, if you understand what I'm saying. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:43.279 Sometimes scripture gives us an evocative expression to paint a scene. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:44.399 It says, Mrs. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:50.879 Potiphar, that's what I'll call her the rest of this time, cast longing eyes on Joseph. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.279 Men, have any of your wives ever cast longing eyes on you? 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:59.199 She had them hungry eyes, as the song says. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.480 Not a glance, longing eyes. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:15.680 Now, God created beauty, and there is a big difference between acknowledging something beautiful and willfully sinning with the thing that was beautiful in your mind. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:20.240 You see, temptation, it starts with sight, this eye gate. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.040 In Matthew 6, 22 and 23, it says, the eye is the lamp of the body. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:29.199 If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:35.439 You can't simultaneously stare at temptation and be simultaneously staring at the Savior. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.319 So, don't stare. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:41.519 Unless it's the right thing to stare at. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:46.800 When I grew up in Delaware, it was a little different culture. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:54.879 You didn't, when you were driving, you didn't ride next to someone else and look over and do anything more than a glance. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:04.560 If you looked over and there was a guy and he was driving, and his girl was in the passenger seat, and you did more than a glance, but you looked for a moment, you were asking for a fight. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:11.519 And in fact, I had a guy start yelling in his car because I looked over longer than a glance, and he was saying some things. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:17.199 I don't know what those things were, but they ended with his hand in the air telling me, you know what. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:21.680 And so I learned quickly, there is something more than a glance. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:23.040 You don't stare. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:23.680 Mrs. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:30.160 Potiphar is a married woman, and she got them longing eyes for someone that is not her husband. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.759 James 1, 14 and 15 tells us how sin progresses. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:41.920 It says, Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own, hear that, his own lust and enticed. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:45.600 She cast her longing eyes and she desired more. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:46.079 Mrs. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.680 Potiphar needed Jesus, but she wanted Joseph. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.959 So, how do we hold the line in purity? 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.040 Let her be, I want you to see this lingering enticement. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.399 It's not like this happened one time and it went away. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:07.920 Genesis chapter 39, look at verses 9 and 10. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:18.160 So he refuses her, but verse 9, there is no one greater in this house than I, talking about his position that Potiphar has put him. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.839 Nor has he kept back anything from me but you. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:23.680 Because you are his wife. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.680 How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:39.039 So it was as she spoke to Joseph, look at this, day by day, that he did not heed to her to lie with her or to be with her. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:39.759 So Mrs. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:45.360 Potiphar stared and says, Joseph, lie with me. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:46.960 Now hear me, church. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:52.240 She was not asking for a nap or a cuddle. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.039 She said, lie with me. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:59.440 And there's a couple of things about this situation that you need to understand. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.559 Number one, it was constant. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:06.080 It says, day after day after day. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:14.720 And the second thing that I want you to see, when the situation kind of comes to an apex, it's in verse 11, it says, but it happened about this time. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:35.279 What you need to know about this time was when things became isolated, when all of the other men, read that verse, verse 11, when all the other men were working outside, when none of the other men were inside, that is when the apex of this situation, when lust met with opportunity, it happened. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.399 You say, Pastor, why are we digging in so much to this? 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:40.399 I'm gonna tell you why right now. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:48.399 Barna says 75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women view pornography. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:56.240 60% of marriages today, of all marriages, experience forms of infidelity. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:04.480 Barna said that Christian teenagers, hear me, teens, are equally as active as their non-Christian peers sexually. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:13.519 The only significant difference that they can find in research is in their conversations on their attitudes towards sexual activity. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.799 It's sobering, church. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:23.039 Matthew 5, 28 says, Everyone who looks with lust in their heart commits adultery. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:31.200 So this is just a sort of a hodgepodge of ideas that I think are practical, but everyone here needs to hear the truth today. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.440 Number one is scrolling without guardrails is wrong. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:36.159 Okay? 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.200 You need to have guardrails when you have your phone. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.440 Teen, adult, doesn't matter who you are. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.559 Make sure that you have guardrails with your scrolling. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:47.200 Because how much impurity is okay? 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:50.000 How much garlic is okay to put in your cereal bowl? 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.399 How much dirt is okay? 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:54.559 Let me take that a step further. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.000 We say, well, yeah, I understand that. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:57.440 I get that, Pastor. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:03.360 What about television and movies and books? 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.919 How much impurity is okay? 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:10.159 Because I'm gonna tell you, I've heard grown people talking and they've said this. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.679 Now that's not a show you'd actually watch with your children. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.519 Well, then it's not a show you actually watch. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.759 Well, Pastor, I'm an adult. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:21.519 Why are you stepping on my toes about this? 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.120 I can handle nudity. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:24.799 I beg to differ. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:34.320 I don't think it's okay to justify something as right when it's really not right. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.919 Why do we do that in culture? 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:40.639 How much impurity is okay in your books, in your movies, in your TV? 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:50.639 Heather and I often will turn on a show interested in the plot line, turn it on, and it takes about two minutes, and we go, that one's not gonna be one we watch. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:12:00.399 We may be gluttons for punishment because the top of it sometimes says TV mature, whatever it says, and we click it, and same thing, a minute in. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.960 Oh, I was hoping it was just mature for violence. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.399 I can handle violence. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:04.960 Okay. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.679 How much impurity is okay? 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.240 If people are shown without clothes, church, it's not okay. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:16.159 Did you hear those statistics? 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.399 If you're a Christian today, you are held to a higher standard. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:29.679 And what we do is we listen to culture, we say, Well, my friend and that friend and that group's talking about it, so I guess it's justifiably okay. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:31.759 I'm an adult, after all. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.000 Bible says, be ye holy, for I am holy. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:43.759 In Ephesians, it says that we are to be presented to the bridegroom as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.279 You are a child of God. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:50.399 Don't justify being less holy because the world accepts less holiness. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.639 Those are a few things. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:57.919 How you look at others. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:12:59.519 See, Mrs. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:00.960 Potiphar's problem. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:02.320 Joseph is handsome. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:03.120 Fine, great. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.919 I go to the gym and notice handsome men that are strong. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.399 I don't stare at them, I promise you that. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:09.039 Okay? 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.519 Don't do it. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:13.600 It's more. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:15.840 So be careful how you look. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:21.039 Don't give the lamp of the body an opportunity to give the mind something to consider. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.960 Be careful how you look at somebody, and then the second part, the motive of how you look. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.519 Be careful how you look, not what you're looking at, but how you're dressed. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:32.559 Be careful. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:33.840 What is the motivation? 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:35.679 Private messages. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:37.360 Be careful. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:44.240 I've told my kids for a long time when it comes to relationships with phones, I just don't want any pictures. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.799 One of my big things, I don't want pictures sent. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:47.759 Why? 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:51.519 Because then I gotta look at every single thing that comes across a phone. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:52.960 Messages. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.120 You have to be careful. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:56.399 You have to put up guardrails. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.320 Verse 10, it says, day after day. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:07.519 Now I told you early on, I find it hard to find much fault in how Joseph conducts himself throughout Genesis. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:16.080 And this I know could be debated because Joseph, as a slave here, was in a real rock and a hard place situation. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.559 And he might have been in bigger trouble had he not did what he'd done. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:26.720 But was there an opportunity for Joseph ever, I wonder, to speak to Potiphar? 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.360 I don't know how that conversation goes. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:31.360 Potiphar, your wife, I don't know. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.399 She got them hungry eyes and she keeps putting them on me. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.000 Probably not a good conversation. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.559 I don't know how it can get better. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.720 But he gets to this situation and it was day after day after day. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.480 I wonder, was there an opportunity for Joseph to tell? 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:51.360 But all I can say with it is we can only illustrate the power of sin. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:52.399 Day after day. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:57.600 And I want to tell you, church, day after day, sin doesn't stop fighting where we're weak. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.480 The Bible says that the devil is an adversary. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:01.679 He's a roaring lion. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.360 He's seeking when you're tired. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.519 He's seeking when you're angry with your spouse. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:11.279 Teenagers, he's seeking when temptation is quiet and alone in a basement with a blanket. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:16.480 He's seeking a place where you're gonna fail. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.039 It's lingering day after day. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:21.120 Well, let's see what happens. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.799 Point number two, a run for purity. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:30.080 We're gonna look down there at verse 11 through 13 in a moment. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:39.519 The word purity is the Hebrew word, the Greek word, I'm sorry, hagnos, and it means sacred. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.960 Something that is sacred, something that is innocent. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:47.919 Like that Ephesians verse, without spot, blemish, or wrinkle. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:49.759 And teenagers hear this. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:56.960 2 Timothy chapter 2 says, Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example, and it ends with impurity. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.559 In purity. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.559 And we see this run for purity. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.440 Letter A, Joseph refuses sin. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.360 Look at verse 8 again, and then we'll read verse 11 through 13. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.039 Verse 8, it says, But he refused. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:17.519 And he said to his master's wife, Look, my master doesn't know what is in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:18.480 Verse 11. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:29.120 But it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:32.879 But he left his garment in her hand, and he fled and ran outside. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:43.440 And so it was when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of her outside and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought a Hebrew to mock us. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.279 He came in to lie with me. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.279 So we see this situation unfolding, and we see what's happening with it. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:54.159 And we see Joseph here. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:03.600 And I want you to see first in verse 8 how Joseph, how he reacts to her initially saying, Lie with me. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:04.880 He says this. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:07.599 He says, How can I do this great wickedness? 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:08.960 He calls sin. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.880 He says, How can I do this great wickedness to my master? 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.440 Genesis 6, verse 5 uses the same descriptor of the world pre-flood. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:28.480 He says that it was a great wickedness on the earth, describing a corruption, hear this, that caused God to flood the universe, to flood the earth. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.119 He says, It's great wickedness. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:35.440 And Joseph says in the same word, how can I do this? 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:42.720 If we were to refuse sin that is lingering, church, we have to see it as sin. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:47.119 Lust is not this natural urge. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:59.599 I know that today you can turn on any television, you can turn on something from Hollywood, and they romanticize cheating, lust, and sinfulness. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.720 And it kind of has become background noise. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.799 And when it does, our convictions are lulled. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:11.759 Words like holiness, purity, and sin have become hypercritical. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.759 We look at them as judgmental to live that way. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.480 Joseph didn't say a number of things. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.279 He didn't say, Well, I might get caught. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:26.160 He didn't say, This could mess up my future position in the company. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:27.839 Look at what he said. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.839 He said, How can I sin against God? 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:39.279 It's interesting that he opens his mouth here and gives us a kind of a profound insight. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:47.119 The last time that Joseph opened his mouth and said something, when his father said, Go see about your brothers, he said, Here am I. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.039 That was what he said. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:54.720 Ready to serve, and now years of service, years of doing anything for his master. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:01.839 And he opens his mouth yet again in scripture, and the first thing that we hear him say, not here am I, but he says, How could I? 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:06.559 He was talking to his earthly father, and now he's talking about his heavenly father. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:10.480 How could I do such great a wickedness? 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.079 He knew that in regards to Mrs. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:17.440 Potiphar it was wrong. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.440 He knew that in regards to Potiphar it would be wrong. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.599 But he spoke of his heavenly father and the betrayal. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.799 Church, today I need you to know that sin is vertical before it's ever horizontal. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.319 It's always vertical. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:40.720 Often we were raising the children, I would say to the kids, Do you understand when you sin that it's not just me or breaking a rule? 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:42.240 You sin against God. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:55.200 In order for us to have the right, proper grasp of the weight of our sin and our personal walk of holiness, we gotta grapple with this phrase that Joseph used. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:59.039 He said, How can I sin against God? 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.400 He's looking at a relationship that means so much. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:10.960 Jesus gave, listen to me, his precious blood on Calvary's cross. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:15.599 We used to sing a song that depicts how we should feel. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.119 Child of weakness, watch and pray. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:25.279 Find in me thine all-in-all. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:27.920 Jesus paid it all. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.000 All to him I owe. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:33.519 Sin had left a guilty stain. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.839 He washes it white as snow. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:46.960 It should break my heart and your heart to fail the God who sent his only son. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:53.519 But I think it's easy in culture today to just kind of let sin slide. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:04.559 Let an error go to the side and become used to it and say, well, everybody else is kind of doing it like that. 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:06.160 That's not holiness. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.400 Holiness isn't about justification. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:13.599 Joseph said the right phrase, and you need to say the right phrase, and I need to say the right phrase. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:16.640 How can I do this unto God? 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:18.640 Letter B. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:21.680 We see Joseph runs from seduction. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:26.240 Verse 12 and 13. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.480 She caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.000 But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:40.559 And so it was when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she called the men of her house. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.640 So here's the scene. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:43.200 Mrs. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:45.039 Potiphar grabs him. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:45.839 He's inside. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:46.880 There's no other man. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:48.079 The opportunity is there. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:49.440 She's had them eyes. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:50.400 She sees him. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:51.759 There he is, looking good. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.920 And it says form and appearance. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:59.759 She gets him, that boy, by the nap of his neck, and she says, lie with me. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:07.119 Joseph looks down, sees his Nike sandals are on, and he says, poof, I'm out of here. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.000 And he takes off running as fast as he can. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:11.920 He gets outside and he looks back. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:16.640 He was so fast his shirt fell over his head and it's standing there in her hand. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.000 Look like a steam from Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:21.759 He said, beep, beep, psew. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.759 He was gone. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.960 By the way, teenagers, if you don't believe it, I believe this works. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:35.920 If somebody is trying to mess around with you past your boundaries, let me just tell you what you need to do. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:36.880 Run. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:38.400 Just run. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.319 Get up from the couch and run. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.599 You might add this. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:48.400 Look them right in the face as you're getting ready to run and say, Stop! I promise it'll work. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.759 It literally says, flee. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:55.839 He fled. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:01.920 1 Corinthians 6 18 says, flee from sexual immorality. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:04.960 Church, that's not to teenagers, that's to everyone. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.839 Every form, every type of immorality. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:08.559 Flee. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:09.440 Run. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:16.079 So maybe we need, I don't know, throw the phone and run. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:19.440 It says flee. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.279 2 Timothy 2.22 says, flee from youthful lust. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.599 It says to run from it. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:30.000 There's only two other things that I could find scripture talks about that we should run from. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.000 One is sexual immorality. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:38.640 It says, flee from the love of money, which is the root of all evil, and flee from idolatry. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.279 It says, flee, run from these things. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:45.359 How can we overcome a spirit of lustfulness? 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:55.119 Well, church, this is just a practical thought, but we have to come to God in spiritual battle over spiritual things. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:59.440 And at the end of the spiritual armor, it says, be watchful and pray. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:04.079 Go to God in prayer, because the Bible says we have to crucify this flesh. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.720 This is something you have to crucify. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:11.920 If it's something that's longing, it's something that's lingering, it's continuing. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:13.440 You have to crucify our flesh. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:19.680 That means we have to override the part of us that is seeking to be sinful. 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.200 And how do we override that? 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:27.680 We have to war against the flesh in prayer and ask God to take that from us. 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.599 We have to crucify our flesh. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.720 And sometimes, like Joseph, that means run. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:41.519 Sometimes, if we're wise enough, we can set parameters that never put us in the situation. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.000 Now, Joseph, this was tough. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:48.160 But do you have parameters in place that I will not go to X? 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.160 I will not go to such and such a place with such and such people. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:54.640 I will not get in this position. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:58.640 Because, hear me, parents with teenagers, when it's too late, it's too late. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:07.599 And to have that conversation on the couch in the dark, or you're sitting there, have you ever been in a movie theater before? 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:10.400 And you're sitting there and going, This movie's not good. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:12.319 What do I do? 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:15.839 Well, I paid, Pastor. 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:17.839 I bought the popcorn. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.799 And we're$50 deep in this thing. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.440 That's only one bucket of popcorn, by the way. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:24.480 Not much. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.400 There should be some conversations about boundaries. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.759 And if you're struggling in this, I'm going to tell you a secret. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:35.440 This is the secret world. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.359 Nobody wants to talk about this, but marriages. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:40.880 I'm going to invite it today. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.079 Have a conversation. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:43.039 How are you doing? 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:44.880 It's going to be uncomfortable. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:49.759 But would you rather be more holy and uncomfortable for a little bit? 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:51.839 Or just stay less holy? 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:54.319 Joseph fled. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.000 He took off and ran. 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:00.559 Point number three this morning. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:06.400 We see after that a roller coaster of perjury, prison, and providence. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:11.759 How many of you here like roller coasters? 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.119 My wife shook her head no. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:20.160 I love roller coasters. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.240 And as I'm getting older, that's slightly changing. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:24.880 A little bit. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.519 It does something to me that it didn't used to. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:31.599 I don't want to admit to age, but age is doing something to me that I don't like. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:38.319 And so, but for almost 20 years, we went to a theme park with teenagers faithfully every summer. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.000 Minus 2020. 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:41.200 Y'all, it made me mad. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:42.640 It messed up my streak. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:46.960 But anyhow, I'm not, I don't, I don't need to get on a carousel. 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:48.480 I can do that right here. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:48.880 Okay. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.359 I don't need to walk in circles. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:55.359 You know, when people want to ride the things that spin, I'm like, that that ain't even worth the money. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:57.440 But put me on a mountain. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:57.839 Right? 00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.599 And we were at Cedar Point. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:11.359 And one of the things I love about roller coasters is really talking somebody into getting on one that kind of is on the edge, that maybe won't like it, except for when I did that with Heather, she cried and almost dumped me. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:19.279 But others, teenagers especially, and I love to sit across from somebody who's scared and ask them this question. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:25.839 Have you ever seen the guy who's in charge of making sure these bolts are tightened at three in the morning? 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:27.519 Because I've never seen him. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:28.000 I've said that. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.799 I've never seen him, never met Tom who's in charge of this. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.119 Have you ever seen the guy who ooh, what about that thing right there? 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:34.160 That looks a little loose. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:39.119 And I love to share that kind of encouragement as we're climbing the mountain. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:41.920 One girl, in fact, I acted like I was scared. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.559 She got on the ride and I ran through the other side. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:46.799 She was buckled in, and I acted like I was scared. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:48.079