No Ordinary Joe: Temptation
Genesis 39
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
FBC Chenoa
10-24-2021
1. Time to Go
When I was lived in Mississippi, I ran a counseling center for a large psychiatric hospital. One of the ways we promoted the hospitals programs was a series of in-services I would do for doctors, nurses, and teachers.
I would teach on anxiety or depression and then take questions. I would be able to pass my cards out and they would get continuing education credits. It was a win win.
After one of these presentations, my marketing representation, a fellow Christian named Mike, walked over to where I was talking to a group, grabbed me by the arm and said, “Time to go.”
I nodded and kept talking but then he dragged me away from the group and out the door. He shoved me in the car and took off.
I asked him what in the world was going on. He told me that after I had finished speaking, a young, very attractive woman approached him and started asking all kinds of questions about me.
It was one particular question, and her follow up response, that caused him to go into full rescue mode.
She asked Mike, “Is Jeff married?” To which he replied, “Yes he is.” He said she smiled and whispered, “Happily?”
At that, he knew there was danger in the room. He said, “You would have done the same thing for me.” And he was right. When there is danger in the room the only sane thing to do is run!
That’s what Joseph will experience in the verses we will study today - danger in the room. How he handled temptation will help with our fight against temptation as well.
Turn with me to Genesis 39.
Prayer
[Slide] Joseph is Purchased
[Slide] “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. 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.” (Gen 39:1)
We are not sure, but Joseph was probably taken to the slave market in Egypt. He couldn’t understand the language or the customs. He most likely presented nude, and was poke and prodded to see if he would make a good slave.
In God’s providence, Joseph was purchased by Potiphar, a high ranking official who was known as the “captain of the guard.” This position was powerful and similar to the head of the FBI or CIA. In fact, he was in charge of all executions for the Pharaoh.
This was a humiliating experience for Joseph to go through but God is positioning him exactly where He needs him to be.
[Slide] Joseph Prospers
[Slide] “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his 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. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that 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. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” (Gen 39:2-6)
It’s interesting to note that the narrator uses the covenant making, promise keeping God, Yahweh eight times in this chapter. God is sovereignly orchestrating events to bring his will about in Joseph’s life.
God prospered Joseph, He gave him success, He put His blessing on him so that everything he did succeeded.
This didn’t happen overnight. Joseph was in Potiphar’s house at least a decade. But he was obviously smart and Potiphar noticed.
Joseph was different. He quickly picked up the Egyptian language. He had the gifts of administration and leadership. He was good with people and was soon running Potiphar’s entire household.
Potiphar was experiencing a Biblical promise in real time. God promised Abraham:
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3)
The only thing Joseph wasn’t in charge of was the preparing of the food. This would have been because the food would need to be specially prepared and Egyptians didn’t eat with Hebrews.
Joe is a long way from home. He is now a slave. It would have been easy to be bitter and angry. But instead, he makes a choice to make the best out of the situation.
Sometimes that is what we need to do as well. We may feel like we are not where we are supposed to be or not doing what we are supposed to be doing. If you are feeling that right now, plant your feet, look around for opportunities to serve and make the best of it.
[Slide] Joseph is Pursued
[Slide] 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!” (Gen 39:6b-7)
This little phrase stands out, doesn’t it? “He was well built and handsome.” The Bible only says this about three other men - David, his son Absalom, and Samson.
Did he look like Zac Ephron or like Chris Hemsworth? Like Brad Pitt or like Robert Redford?
As you are standing in the grocery line and looking at the magazines covered with the beautiful people, remember that they have their own issues and their own problems as well.
Potiphar’s wife “took notice of him.” He caught her eye and she wasted no time making her intentions known.
“Come to bed with me!” Was not a request, it was a command. She was the mistress of the house and he was a slave. The Hebrew is more graphic but we’ll leave it your imagination.
It wasn’t subtle but brazen and bold and full of lustful intent. Egyptian women were expected to have male “playthings” on the side. The Egyptian societal moral standards were very low.
Also, we need to consider the fact that that there was a good possibility that Potiphar was an eunuch since he would have access to the queen. Their marriage could have been a ceremonial one and she was frustrated as her needs weren’t being met.
[Are you trying to seduce me Mrs. Robinson?”]
Now think through this. Joe could have easily justified a little afternoon delight. He had been sold by his brothers. He was slave. No one would know. It might even be good for his opportunities for advancement.
Joseph Says No
“But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 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?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.” (Gen 39:8-10)
Joseph is just as direct with his reply. He is bold and refuses her outright. Why? He gives two reasons.
Out of all the people that could have bought him, Potiphar had been very good to him. God had blessed Joseph and Potiphar’s household. He would not betray Potiphar.
But more importantly, Joseph knew that even though he had been taken away from everyone and everything he loved, God was still with him. He calls her proposition what it is - wicked and a sin against God.”
Even in the midst of foreign culture, far away from home, he would live his life in such a way that he will honor His God.
In the tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain, God had something to say about this, didn’t He? You shall bot commit adultery.
He called sin what it is - wickedness. In our culture, we call it by everything else but it’s real name - adultery. People have affairs, dalliances, or sometimes with blunt honesty like in the classic .38 Special song, “Second Chance:”
I never loved her, I never needed her
She was willing and that's all there is to say
Don't forsake me, please don't leave me now
A heart needs a second chance
Solomon might have been thinking about Potiphar’s wife when he wrote these words to his sons:
For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished…But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. (Prov 6:23-29,32)
She was relentless. Day after day she chased him but he refused her each time. He even refused to alone with her if he could help it. But sometimes he could help being alone with her. Especially, when she arranged it to happen.
She Sets the Trap
"One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 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. “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.” (Gen 39:11-15)
She set the trap. She made sure that none of the other servants were around. She grabbed him by the cloak and again commanded him to come to bed with her. (There seems to be a coat motif in this story)
What did he do? He ran! He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t think it over. It’s the opposite of what David did with Bathsheba.
Once she realized that he had turned her down again, she raged again Joseph.
William Congreve wrote these words hundreds of years ago:
“Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorn'd” (The Mourning Bride, 1697)
She looks at the coat in her hand and decides to destroy Joseph. She calls the attendants in and tells them that he tried to rape her. What could they say? They had heard the scream and she did have Jospeh’s coat.
Joseph is falsely Accused
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. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” (Gen 39:16-18)
When she first told the story, she called him a Hebrew. Now, when Potiphar gets home, she calls him “that Hebrew slave.”
This story was totally made up. Joseph didn’t try to rape her. He ran. He honored God.
The passion with which she pursued Joseph is now turned into anger and a desire to destroy him.
Joseph is put into Prison
“When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.” (Gen 39:19-20)
You have to read between the lines of these verses to understand Potiphar’s dilemma.
Potiphar knows his wife and he knows Joseph. He strongly suspects that Joe has rebuffed his wife and now she is wanting him dead.
He didn’t want to lose Joseph, who had brought blessing to his house but he also could not ignore his wife’s tears, even if they were fake.
How do we know that? Because the head of the executioners, didn’t have Joseph’s head cut off! In fact, Joe was put into the king’s prison. This would have been a step up from the dungeon where normal prisoners were kept.
Joseph Prospers in Prison
“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Gen 39:20-23)
Even in a dark prison, the narrator tells us that the Lord was with him and showed him kindness and granted him favor to the man who ran the prison.
The warden quickly saw what Potiphar had seen. In fact, Potiphar might have told the warden about Jospeh’s leadership gifts.
So now Joseph ends up running the day to day operations of the prison, not exactly where he thought he would end up after honoring God.
I sure he was frustrated and sad and looked out the window and asked God, “Really? This is how I’m rewarded for honoring you? Falsely accused and in a dank dar prison.”
But these positions of authority foreshadow what is to come. Little could Joseph could have known that God had Joseph exactly where he needs to be to save the entire Hebrew nation.
Application
God has a plan for your life
Let me make two quick points before we get to our main application.
First, true or false, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”
If you are a Christian, then you may have memorized Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)
This verses actually hangs in my living room. But we must be very carefully not the take the text out of its context because then we make a pretext, making it say whatever we want it to say.
The people were being lead away into captivity to Babylon and there were prophets saying, “Hey everyone, don’t worry. God loves us. He wouldn’t let this go on very long. We’ll be out of the land maybe just a couple of years. Relax!”
Jeremiah is actually a prophet who speaks for the Lord and says to the people, God has been saying this was going to happen all along:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.
Some preachers take this verse and try to tell people that it means that God main purpose is to make you happy, healthy, and wise.
Once you hear it in the context, its even better news! God had not forgotten His people, even though seventy years seems like a long time to us. But his purpose and plan will prevail.
And that was the type of promise that Joseph was holding to in the prison. It’s the type of promise that Joni Ericsson Tada held on to when she found out she would be paralyzed for the rest of her life.
It’s the promise I held on to in Florida. Many of you know that we moved to Florida to take my dream job that turned into a nightmare. We were there eight weeks, and every day brought a new disaster. Maxine and Austin cried every day. Maxine and I fought more in those eight weeks than we have in 30 years. It was a catastrophe of epic proportion.
But, in the middle of all this chaos, I met the parish nurse named Debbie. She was asked me, “I’ve heard you say something a couple of times now. What does it mean to be born again?”
Long story short, I shared the Gospel with her and she committed her life to Christ. Then she brought her grown daughter in to meet with me and she committed her life to Christ.
Could it be possible that God took me to Florida for the specific purpose of seeing those two wonderful women come to Christ? Could it be that I wasn’t quite ready to be a senior pastor and needed to have some more pride stomped out of me?
I don’t know. But here’s the question. If I had to go through all that emotional trauma to see Debbie come to Christ, is it worth it? Several years removed from the situation, I can say absolutely yes!
God has not forgotten you! He is working behind the scenes. But His main goal isn’t to make you happy but holy. He will work out His purposes for His ultimate glory and our ultimate good.
Temptation ?
What is Temptation?
The Greek word for temptation means “a test.” Temptations come through trails, tests, and disappointments. God does not tempt us, we’ll see that in just a minute, but He does allow us to experience testing to grow our faith and strengthen our resolve to serve Him.
But these trials can be used by the Evil One to tempt us. These temptations serve his purpose to draw us away from God and, ultimately, destroy us.
Temptation is an ever-present reality. But it’s been that from the beginning. When Cain was seething with anger and thinking about killing his brother, God says,
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4:7-8)
He Gets it!
Is it a sin to be tempted? Well, it’s obvious that being tempted is not a sin because Jesus was tempted, but did not sin.
More than that, the fact that Jesus was tempted, is actually really good news for us.
When we are tempted to shake our fist at heaven and yell, “You don’t know how it feels!” we can turn to the words from Hebrews that prove otherwise:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Jesus knows how you feel when you are tempted. He’s been there, done that. But He didn’t succumb to the temptation. He won the victory and through Him, we can as well.
We All Have Our Own Skittles
Let’s get down the practical steps of dealing with temptation.
Turn with me to I Corinthians 10:13.
Paul is writing to a church that is plagued with problems. Chapter ten begins with a recap of some of the worst events in Israel’s history – stories of idolatry and rejection of God.
Paul said that these things happened as examples and were written down as warnings to us. He then gives them a warning against self-deception:
“So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” (I Cor 10:12)
Let’s look carefully at the next verse:
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind…”
Let’s stop there and dig in. Remember the word temptation means a “test.” Satan can use it as a temptation but God always uses such situations to test our resolve to follow Him.
Paul says that no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.
In other words, there’s nothing new under the sun!
To be tempted is to be human.
I remember talking to a young person who told me that he thought he wasn’t a “real” Christian because he keeps being tempted by the same things over and over again.
I just reminded him of the word, “sanctification,” which means that God is working in us to make us more like Jesus. He, and you and I, are all “in process” and will not be free from temptation until we die.
There is a very real temptation, (hey, another temptation!), to think that our temptations are different, are unique. When we think that way, then we can say that our temptations are harder to avoid.
But, Paul deflates that argument. We all experience the same areas of temptations. I may not be tempted by what you are tempted by and you may not be tempted by what I’m tempted by but we are all tempted by basically the same things.
As a friend of my once said, “We all love our skittles. You may like the red kind and I like the blue kind, but it’s still all Skittles.
This is good news! Guess what? You are not as weird as you thought you were. Others have experienced what you are tempted by. You are not the only one.
Let me make one distinction. While the same things tempt us all, the specifics of those things change as we move toward Jesus’ return.
Let me give you an example. All humans are tempted in the area of sexuality. Men are tempted with their eyes, women with their hearts. While we may be tempted by different specific things, we are all tempted in this area. It’s part of being human and living in a fallen world.
But, the temptations are a little different for the students. They really are? Want proof?
In order to see hard-core pornography when I was 13 years old, I had to go to a shop downtown and buy a magazine in a brown paper bag. Now, obviously I didn’t do that, but my friend’s older brother did!
Now, a thirteen year old need only to sit in front of a computer screen and click his mouse and millions of hard core images are at his disposal.
It’s still a common temptation but it’s packaging is getting more user-friendly.
Let’s look a the next phrase:
“And God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear.”
Paul now deflates the lie that some temptations are just impossible to resist. God is faithful; you can trust Him. He knows your limits. He knows what you can take.
“But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Notice the word, “when.” Paul doesn’t say “if” you are tempted. Experiencing temptation is inevitable.
Paul says that God will provide you a “way out.” This word literally means “escape hatch.” God will provide you with an exit strategy. He will help you “get under the temptation and carry it,” which is what the word “endures” means.
Just Say No?
In the 80s, Nancy Reagan started a campaign against drugs whose motto was, “Just say no!” It was an overly simplistic solution to a very complicated problem. It gave kids something to say no to but not something to say yes to instead.
That’s why just encouraging people to “just say no” to their temptations is a prescription for failure. This approach presupposes that we have what it takes to beat the temptation.
We don’t have it in us.
But Jesus won the victory for us and by saying yes to Him, His power is made available in our lives to deal with temptation.
Strategy Session
Malachi 2:15 gives us our marching orders:
“Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.” (Mal 2:15)
We need a strategy. We need accountability. We need the understanding that we are weak.
“Prone to wander / Lord I feel it / prone to leave the God I love
We don’t have it in us. We need accountability.
My friend Brian Bill lists some ways to stay faithful to your spouse:
Stay committed no matter what
I love what Marilyn told me about their 60th anniversary. I asked her what their secret was and she profoundly replied, “Neither of us gave up at the same time.”
It’s like a copier machine in church. It breaks down all the time. But you can’t just throw it to the curb. You’ve got to fix it.
Don’t play with fire
Do you love your marriage enough to protect it? One of the most helpful books I’ve read in this regard is called, “Hedges” by Jerry Jenkins. He states that the greatest gift you can give to your spouse is to set up some boundaries with members of the opposite sex which include, but are not limited to:
Avoid flirting.
Don’t be alone with the doors closed when you’re with a member of the opposite sex. Follow the Billy Graham rule
Be careful about how you touch a member of the opposite sex.
* Job 31:1: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.” If you don’t have an Internet filter, you need to get one. I use Covenant Eyes, which gets its name from this verse.
Recognize your weaknesses. Many fall into sexual sin because of overconfidence. Listen to the warning found in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Imagine Satan has a deck of cards and each card is a different area of temptation. He patiently throws the cards at you until one of them sticks.
When I first became a Christian, he could have thrown the card of cocaine at me but it wouldn’t have stuck. But when he threw the “blonde haired, blued eyed, sorority girl" I knew I in over my head.
Run from sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
Samson, David., Solomon all ran toward adultery. Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife.
We need to be delivered. This is a word of desperation. This is a cry for rescue. He can rescue us from taking us out of temptations way, or taking the temptation out of our life, or giving us the strength to stand through it.
We need to dive deep into God’s amazing grace:
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11-14)
We need to daily pray, Father, please, please help me not believe the lie that anything is better than Jesus. And help me, through your Spirit’s power to do whatever it takes to avoid temptation.
It all starts with telling the truth. Truth be told…the truth is never told.
[Truth be Told Video]
Benediction
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
