OPEN: One of my favorite stories from Revolutionary war involves the "Battle of the Cowpens".
Toward the end of the Revolutionary war, the British General Cornwallis had captured Savannah, Charleston and Camden in South Carolina - and in the process he had defeated and imprisoned much of the Southern Continental Army. Now, his intention was to crush any further resistance as quickly and thoroughly as possible. And for that task, he assigned the hated and feared Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton and a crack army of the best British soldiers. Tarleton was hated by the revolutionaries because of his unscrupulous and ruthless tactics.
The Continental Army still existed, but it survived mostly by running away from any pitched battle with the British. A portion of that army was under the command of General Daniel Morgan, and Morgan kept retreating and evading the British until Morgan could find the place he wanted to fight. When he made his decision, he sent out an appeal to any remnant of Revolutionary forces to meet him at a place called the “Cowpens”.
There, General Morgan organized his men into 3 lines.
· The first line was made up of special sharpshooters who, as the British attacked, picked off Tarleton’s best troops and officers. THEN they were to retreat 150 yards back to the 2nd line…
· At the 2nd line, Morgan’s standing orders were to get off two volleys and THEN RETREAT again another 150 yards to the 3rd line of defense.
· Sometime during the confusion of battle, a flank of Morgan’s forces got the impression they were to retreat still again, and the British forces - mistakenly believing that the Continental army was beaten and demoralized broke ranks and began a wild charge at the retreating forces
· Morgan’s managed to rally his flank and ordered them to turned and fire into the English forces. The unexpected volley exacted a terrible toll
· The Continentals then followed this with a bayonet charge;
· and ultimately other portions of Morgan’s army surrounded the British, resulting in the surrender en mass of some of England’s finest soldiers.
The Battle of the Cowpens is considered to be one of the turning points of the Revolutionary war that ultimately led to the British surrender at Yorktown 10 months later.
But notice: these heroes of the Revolutionary war won their battle… by running away.
APPLY: The story we’re reading in Genesis 39 tells of a hero that ran away.
A hero named Joseph.
And what did he run away from?
He ran away from Potiphar’s wife.
He was a handsome man
She was a desperate housewife
You could make a TV show out of something like this… (pause)
But unlike the perverted themes of today’s television shows, this desperate housewife didn’t get the man she desired - because he never stood still long enough for her to get close to him.
HE KEPT RUNNING AWAY.
Day after day, she kept after him but he never allowed himself to be alone with her.
Now, there are those who believe that “real” men are those who are mature enough to handle sexual temptation. They believe “real men” can watch sensual TV shows, read racy magazines, go to R rated movies, visit those Internet sites… and it won’t bother them.
But that’s a lie.
They can’t handle it.
It takes its toll on their lives
ILLUS: I once read the story of a young man who asked his preacher when he thought he would be mature enough to withstand temptations of the flesh.
The preacher paused for a moment and then wisely replied "I wouldn’t trust myself until I had been dead 3 days."
The Bible is quite clear this is one battle you can only win by running away from it.
1 Corinthians 6:18 says “FLEE from sexual immorality…”
In the book of Proverbs, Solomon repeatedly told his son to avoid adulterous women
Proverbs 5:8 “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house”
Sexual temptation is a minefield for us men.
And God knows it so He tells us
- Don’t go there
- Stay far away
- In fact RUN AWAY! Run away from temptation!
ILLUS: Billy Graham was once commented on the scandals that had destroyed so many tele-evangelists. And (speaking about the temptations of sex, money and pride) he said:
“Those are the three areas I think Satan attacks God’s servants on. I was told that many years ago by an old clergyman, and I never forgot it. And I learned from that moment on that I would be tempted in those areas.
So I never rode in a car with a woman alone. I never have eaten a meal with my secretary alone or ridden in a car with her alone. If we sit in here and I dictate something to her, the door is open.”
ILLUS: Years ago, I went to a preachers gathering in Fort Wayne, Indiana. An old church elder had a talk with us and said that during his lifetime he’d watched as various preachers had ruined their ministries and their lives by having affairs with their church secretaries and piano players.
He told us: “Don’t ever presume you are immune to that type of temptation. You would not believe the type of women these preachers ran off with. Most of them weren’t nearly as attractive as their own wives.”
How did such a thing happen? How could a preacher make such a tragic choice?
Well (as the old elder shared with us) let’s say the preacher and secretary were working together one day and she did something nice for her.
He liked that and complimented her.
She liked the compliment, so she did something else nice for him and he reciprocated by saying something nice to her again.
This would go on – back and forth – until one day, the secretary would begin to think to herself: “If only my husband were to treat me that way, I could be a happy woman.”
And the preacher began to say to himself “If only my wife would treat me this way, I could be a happy man.”
And before you knew it, they’d “fallen in love” and run off together.
But several months later, they were disillusioned. They soon discovered that the perfect mate they’d run off with was not all that much different than the spouse they’d left behind.
Be aware! If it can happen to preachers and church secretaries… it can happen to you too.
You are not above temptation.
And neither was Joseph.
I don’t know if this wife of Potiphar was an attractive or desirable woman or not… even if she weren’t she still could have been tempting to a man like Joseph.
Think about it:
Joseph was little more than 17 years old.
And God had given him a dream. A dream that he was going to be a great man. Others would bow down to him. He would be important. He would be a success in life.
But then things went horribly wrong. His brothers (who he had unwisely told about his dreams were filled with envy and hatred toward him) they beat the living tar out of him, threw him in a pit and then sold him into slavery.
He was deprived of his home, his family, his very way of life.
And he was hauled away in chains and sold at market like some cow or sheep.
His dreams of greatness were ripped away from him… much like his beautiful coat had been ripped from his body.
Now, he’s alone.
He’s a slave, owning nothing - probably not even the clothes on his back.
He has nothing. He is nothing.
He’s unknown, uncared for, and probably scared as a 17 yr. old boy can be.
As far as he knows, he’s never going to see his father or anyone he’s ever loved again.
And then… suddenly his life changes.
His master notices that Joseph is a good worker.
He’s honest, dependable, hard working.
And it seems that everything Joseph touches grows and prospers
And why? Because “God is with Him” (reread vss. 2-5)
God makes him successful
God makes him prosper
AND God influences Potiphar so that Joseph is noticed and honored
But Joseph’s still a slave.
Joseph’s still alone at night.
He has no family.
He may not even have any girlfriends or companions (it’s hard to tell)
He’s a slave – a highly honored slave – but he’s no where near realizing the promise of the dream God had once given him.
Then along comes Potiphar’s wife.
She offers affection… acceptance… comfort… love.
And (had Joseph been an ambitious and cunning man) maybe she would have given him far more than that.
After all, this is an important woman. Her husband is a man of influence in Pharaoh’s court.
She knows people.
All she’d have to do is say the right words to right people and the dreams of Joseph’s childhood could become a reality.
She could open doors for him
He could become a man of influence and power in Egyptian society.
All he has to do… is sleep with her.
I mean, he’s a man – she’s a woman. It’s a nice arrangement.
And no one would ever know.
No one would REALLY get hurt.
She’s probably done this with any number of other slaves - so he wouldn’t be doing anything NEW.
All he has to do is reach out and touch that which is not his to touch, and he could have it all:
· Affection
· Acceptance
· Maybe even influence and power
All he has to do is help God out a little – and his dreams could become a reality.
II. But Joseph turns her down
Not once… not twice… but repeatedly – day after day after day.
Why?
Why would he do that?
Why would he walk away from this woman and everything she represented for him?
Well, I can think of a couple of reasons:
1st Joseph knew who he was
He was a child of God
He had been given a vision by God of what God would do for him… and he wasn’t about to settle for anything less.
ILLUS: Several years ago, a 10th grade girl wrote the following essay:
“My name is Crystal Michelle. I decided to wait for sex among other things a while back.
I have pledged to God that I would not even kiss until the preacher says ‘and NOW you may kiss your bride.’”
Crystal wrote that she understood that being "in love" wasn’t enough to become sexually active.
She also wrote that she had some answers for boys who pressure her to “give in”:
· If a boy says to her: "Real men are sexually active." She will say, "So is my REAL dog."
· If he says, "If you loved me, You’d let me." She’ll say, "If you loved me, you wouldn’t ask."
· He says, "But I want to." She’ll say, "But I don’t!"
· If he says, "Everybody’s doing it." She’ll say, "Not true. I’m somebody, & I’m not doing it!"
· If he asks her "Have you ever done it?" She’ll respond with, "Have you ever made the wonderful discovery of knowing Jesus Christ?"
· If he asks, "Don’t you love me?" She’ll say, "Yeah, But I love God more."
· If he says, "I won’t get you pregnant." She’ll say, "That’s right, because you aren’t going to touch me."
· If he says, "If you won’t let me, I’ll find someone who will." She’ll say, "It was nice knowing you."
· And my personal favorite, if he says, "But you owe me!" She’ll say, "Okay, I’ll get you a key chain or something."
Now, how could Crystal stand strong in the face of sexual temptation?
She knew who she was, and she wasn’t going to settle for a relationship that would cheapen her or her value to God.
She knew who she was… and so did Joseph.
2ndly, Joseph knew who God was
Joseph explained to Potiphar’s wife that he had three reasons for not sleeping with her.
1. Her husband trusted him and Joseph didn’t want to betray that trust.
"With me in charge 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.” (Genesis 39:8-9a)
2. And even her husband never found out… God would know – and he wasn’t about to betray His God
“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9b)
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 tells us our reasoning should be the same as Joseph’s:
“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? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
We serve a Holy God… and He calls us to be holy.
His Holy Spirit resides within us and thus our bodies are His Temple.
The things we wouldn’t do inside of church building, we ought not to be doing in the back seat of a car.
So, while sexual temptation may cause us to struggle…maybe even to stumble a little our objective is to stay as far away from the temptation as we can manage.
CLOSE: Now, that’s the exact opposite of the way this world looks at things. To this world, heroes are those who are sexually liberated. If you read popular books, or watch TV or movies, you’ll find that the heroes in stories are almost always sleeping with their girlfriends and co-workers. Even superheroes are now shown as sleeping with their “significant others”.
ILLUS: Years ago, I read the following story about the contrast between the world’s heroes and God’s. A man wrote about his experience when his 13 year old son’s school announced a meeting to preview the new course in sexuality. Parents could examine the curriculum and take part in an actual lesson presented exactly as it would be given to the students.
“When I arrived at school, I was surprised to discover only about a dozen parents were there. As we waited for the presentation, I thumbed through page after page of instructions in the prevention of pregnancy or disease.
I found abstinence mentioned only in passing. When the teacher arrived with the school nurse, she asked if there were any questions. I asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in the material. What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand.
The teacher and nurse said nothing as I drowned in embarrassment. My mind had gone blank, and I could think of nothing to say.
The teacher explained to me the job of the school was to teach ‘facts,’ and the home was responsible for moral teaching. I sat in silence for the next 20 minutes as the course was explained. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support for the materials.
“Donuts, at the back,” announced the teacher during the break. “I’d like you to put on the name tags we have prepared – they’re right by the donuts – and mingle with the other parents.”
Everyone moved to back of the room. As I watched them affixing their name tags and shaking hands, I sat deep in thought. I was ashamed that I had not been able to convince them to include a serious discussion of abstinence in the materials. I uttered a silent prayer for guidance.
My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher’s hand on my shoulder.
‘Won’t you go and join the others, Mr. Layton?’ The nurse smiled sweetly at me. ‘The donuts are good.’
‘Thank you, no,’ I replied.
‘Well, then, how about a name tag? I’m sure the others would like to meet you.’
‘Somehow I doubt that,’ I replied.
‘Won’t you please join them?’ she coaxed.
Then I heard a still, small voice whisper, ‘Don’t go.’ The instruction was unmistakable. ‘Don’t go!’
‘I’ll just wait here,’ I said.
When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored me. Then she said, ‘Now we’re going to give you the same lesson we’ll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags.’
I watched in silence as the name tags came off. ‘Now, then, on the back of one of the tags, I drew a tiny flower. Who has it, please?’
The gentleman across from me held it up. ‘Here it is!’
‘All right,’ she said. ‘The flower represents disease. Do you recall with whom you shook hands?’
He pointed to a couple of people. ‘Very good,’ she replied. ‘The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease.’
There was laughter and joking among the parents. The teacher continued, ‘And whom did the two of you shake hands with?’
The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread.
‘Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease.’
It was then that I heard the still, small voice again. ‘Speak now,’ it said ‘but be humble.’
I noted wryly the latter admonition, then rose from my chair. I apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier, congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson that would impress the youth, and then concluded by saying I had only one small point I wished to make.
‘Not all of us were infected,’ I said. ‘One of us… abstained.’
