Run! Series

“RUN!” Gen. 39:1-23

FBCF – 5/21/23

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Just a heads up. A PG-13 rated sermon today. It’s straight out of the Bible. And it reads like the storyline of a Lifetime Movie or an episode of “Desperate Housewives.” It’s the story of a wealthy politician’s lustful wife setting her eyes on the hunky pool boy, or in this case, Joseph, Potiphar’s personal attendant & manager of his entire household. Turn to Genesis 39:1-23.

I’m going to be careful but am going to preach the truth of God’s Word. May cause a conversation to come up w/ your son or daughter. But those conversations need to happen. In our hypersexualized society, your kids are being exposed more & more at younger & younger ages to imagery & information that must be addressed in a biblical way from a biblical worldview. Technology & social media lead the way in the distribution of this stuff into our kids’ & grandkids’ eyes, ears, & minds. If your child has a phone or will EVER have a phone, high probability of being exposed to this stuff.

- Parents across our nation are willingly taking their children to drag queen shows & conventions, exposing them to & normalizing incredibly evil deviant practices.

- School systems across our nation are providing indecent & immoral reading materials in their libraries & classrooms, sometimes requiring children to read books that promote homosexuality, multiple genders, pornography & other immoral practices.

- A Temple University professor teaches a course on pornography, saying she wants to get students away from “binary thinking: viewing porn as simply right vs wrong, good vs bad.” (https://www.foxnews.com/media/temple-university-unveils-porn-studies-course-teach-about-sex-race-patriarchy) She has a waiting list for the class.

Well, I’ve got news for this professor, these school boards, & these parents: The Word of God is absolutely clear what God’s standard is in the area of sexual purity. And His standard has not changed, no matter how far our society moves away from all that is right & good & pure.

- God’s Word teaches us that there are only 2 genders – male & female – Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

- God’s Word teaches us that marriage is only to be between 1 man & 1 woman – Genesis 2:24 – “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother & be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

- God’s Word teaches us that sex is a gift from God that is to be expressed only between a husband & wife in a marriage relationship – Exodus 20:14 – “You shall not commit adultery.” Just for clarity: Def of adultery: “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/you-shall-not-commit-adultery.html)

This is God’s standard & it has not changed! To ignore His standards & deliberately disobey His commands is to start down a road that will always end in the destruction of your life & so many others. It doesn’t matter how you try to justify it – how many times you parade down the street & flaunt your “freedom” – how you try to justify it & say that your spouse just doesn’t understand you or meet your needs – how much porn the porn industry produces & how many lives they ruin – how much you love your boyfriend or girlfriend or fiancé – God’s Word has not & will not change! This is where we must stand & this is what we must proclaim! We will help those who are struggling in any of these areas. We will love you unconditionally. We will not condemn you or castigate you. We will continually point you to Jesus & to His Word. We will pray for you & w/ you.

And today, I want to make this point loud & clear:

APPLICATION – There’s only one way to deal with sexual temptation – RUN! Can make application to other forms of temptation, too.

Today, we are going to compare & contrast Joseph w/ another well-known person in the Bible – David. Both faced very strong sexual temptations. Both found themselves in very compromising situations. Both made life-altering decisions in the midst of those situations.

Quick reminder of story of David & Bathsheba – 2 Samuel 11. (“Finding Freedom from Your Past Sins” – Feb. 12)

DAVID WASN’T WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE – JOSEPH WAS RIGHT WHERE GOD WANTED HIM TO BE –

The Lord was w/ Joseph, but David wasn’t w/ the Lord. But that’s not how it had always been in David’s life. The fall w/ Bathsheba happened in 2 Sam. But back in 1 Samuel 13:14, the prophet, Samuel, said to King Saul, “The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people…” That man after God’s own heart was David. And yet, due to his military successes, his popularity among the people, & the adulation from the women, David let his guard down & made himself vulnerable. And in 2 Samuel 11:1, we see that when he should have gone off to battle w/ his troops, David stayed back at the palace.