"Faithful In Temptation"

Faithful In Temptation

Joseph part three

Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There he fasted. But on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke.

"I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley."

"No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me."

"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you." The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and leapt, biting him on the leg.

"But you promised..." cried the youth. "You knew what I was when you picked me up." said the snake as it slithered away."

"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 the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body."

1 Cor 6:18

SHORT PRAYER…..

Today we are in the 3rd week of a sermon series on a superhero from the Old Testament  Joseph the son of Jacob and Rachael Paul writes the following in Romans 15:4;

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope…

Listen  God through His Spirit inspired Moses to write about Joseph in order to teach YOU something… AND - what we have been learning - from Joseph’s life the past 2 weeks, is that being faithful does not come easily, Like Joseph, we WILL face some major obstacles in our quest to walk with God To be faithful you may have to overcome life in an imperfect family – AND – you will without a doubt, have to face adversity…

THIS morning we will discuss another MAJOR obstacle that YOU will have to overcome, if YOU are going to be faithful to God, you’ll have to overcome ‘temptation,’ the enticement to do wrong…

Now, today, we are going to focus primarily on the temptations of the flesh  BECAUSE this is the temptation that Joseph as a young man, both faced & defeated AND because this kind of temptation is so common – it nibbles at us...gnaws at us...threatens to consume us. It returns again and again, refusing to take no for an answer.

Our goal today is to learn HOW, to avoid some of the tremendous consequences that others have had to experience. AND please, don’t think it, can’t happen to you. It happened to the wisest man in the Bible - Solomon. It happened to the strongest man in the Bible - Samson. It happened to the most spiritual man in the O.T. - David. And if you’re not alert, it can happen to you. The Bible says, "Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall."

Everyone in this room today needs to pay special attention to this message; teens, young adults, married people…EVERYONE….WHY is that? For one reason - live in a sex saturated culture, sex is everywhere! AND a another reason - is because sexual immorality is not just out there in the world, you see, sexual immorality has found a home in the church…

. About 1/3 of teens in the church will have sexual intercourse by the age of 18… and another 1/3 will take it right to edge…

. And a recent survey in Christianity today found that ¼ of it’s subscribers admitted to having an extra-marital affair….That means 1 in 4 Christians, commit adultery…