"Flee The Temptations Around You"
Sermon Transcript for June 16, 2002
Scripture Reading: Genesis 39:1-23
By Rev. Mike Beck
In this year’s 50-Day Spiritual Adventure, we’re looking at eight different Biblical characters that can help us discover some tools to thrive spiritually instead of just going through life as a survivor. Last week we looked at the life of Moses and the principle was to make "soul-conscious choices". Note the adjective "soul-conscious" choices. With each choice ask, "How does this choice affect my eternal soul?
Today we look at the person of Joseph. It’s a related principle that we have to "flee from the temptations" that are all around us. Let me begin with a definition of temptation. Temptation is "an enticement to do evil for some seeming advantage". There are three important things about temptation that it’s important that we understand. First is this, "temptation does not come from God". James 1:13 tells us, "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me". For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does God tempt anyone." So God is not the author of temptation.
Secondly, "temptation in itself is not sin". I don’t know about you but there are times that thoughts pass through my mind that I say to myself, "Where did that come from?" If temptation itself is a sin, then Jesus was a sinner for He was tempted often including 40 days in the wilderness. Temptation itself is not the sin, thought is not the sin; it’s what we choose to do with the thought, with the temptation.
And then, thirdly, the "temptations you face are not unique to you". That’s what we all do. We think, "I’m the only one that’s ever had to struggle with this problem". Wrong. Whenever your Achilles heel of temptation begins rest assured there are others hearing my voice now that struggle with that same temptation. I Corinthians 10:13 is the verse you ought to have memorized. It says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able to bear." And then, here’s the good news, "But when you are tempted, God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." There are just some critically important principles in that verse.
In looking at this critically relevant and important topic, it is essential to understand how powerful temptation is. The illustration I’m going to use is rather graphic. But when I came across it I said, "This is absolutely profound in helping to see what happens when we play around with temptation instead of fleeing it." Paul Harvey in "Sin’s Peril" tells how Eskimos go about killing a wolf. First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and then he allows it to freeze. And then he repeats that process several times over. And then the Eskimo hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. And when a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent, discovers the bait, licks it, tasting with pleasure the fresh frozen blood. But then as only Paul Harvey can tell the story, see it now in your mind; the wolf begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder, the wolf licks the blade in the Arctic night. So great becomes the wolf’s craving for blood the wolf doesn’t even notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade against his tongue. Nor does he realize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own blood! His carnivorous appetite just craves more and more until at dawn the Eskimo hunter finds the wolf dead in the snow.
Now that’s pretty gruesome. And I invite you to pause for a moment to reflect upon a time in which you’ve played around with temptation until it’s led you in to sin with all of its consequences. And my guess is it followed exactly the same pattern as that gruesome but true story of the Eskimo and the wolf. James 1:14 says, "But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." First we’re enticed. The enticement itself is not sin. But if we allow ourselves to be dragged away then desire conceives and becomes sin and then the progression it eventually leads to death.
Let’s list a few of the common temptations that we face. There is the temptation to lie or take advantage of another person for our own personal gain. There is the temptation to listen to and spread gossip about another person. There is the temptation in our society so saturated by materialism where the TV commercials tell you over and over again you can "have it now" and "pay for it with plastic". The temptation to sacrifice our character in 101 little ways with the rationalization "no one will know, no one will miss it". The subtle temptations of pride and bitterness that ever so slowly eat away the lining of our soul. And as with Joseph, the ever-present temptation of living in a sex-saturated society.
In our day, friends, moral compromise in the arena of sexual sin is just a "click of the mouse" away. Isn’t it true that if you wanted, the Internet offers embarrassment-free valet service? You use to have to risk the embarrassment of carrying the Playboy or the Penthouse from the magazine rack to the counter and it kept many people from indulging. You don’t have to worry about that today. You don’t have to be seen in line at the XXX-rated theater. You can just go back in your bedroom and click the mouse and it’s there but at a far greater price than we ever bargained for.
The "Mrs. Potiphars" in our lives are so often so subtle that, like the frog in the kettle of water where the heat slowly gets turned up, we get cooked at times and we don’t even know we’re in trouble! Billboards on the interstate appeal to our sexual instincts while attempting to sell us perfume, soft drinks, or new cars. The music on the airwaves includes seductive lyrics that subconsciously lower our standards and increase our appetite for physical gratification. Our teenagers shopping at Abercrombie and Fitch become immune to indecency by the provocative display advertisements that double as wallpaper! And golly gee, how in the world did I ever end up on the Victoria Secret’s mailing list?
Is it any wonder that we don’t so often say with the Apostle Paul, "wretched man that I am, what I do I don’t want to do. What I don’t want to do, I do. Who can deliver me from this body of sin and death?" But friends, I’m glad Paul didn’t stop there. I’ve good news for you today on two fronts. Number one, when we fall to temptation, and again if there is anyone here who’s never fallen to temptation you come up, you can preach the message. We won’t believe anything you say, but you can still preach it. When we fall to temptation and fall in to sin, we have a God who majors in forgiveness. That’s what’s grace and good news is all about.
But, secondly, we serve a God who provides us a plan to keep us from falling, if only we will make a "soul-conscious choice" to work the plan. At the risk of being simplistic, we’re going to look at God’s plan now using the four letters of one very important word in today’s sermon title, the word "flee".
FEEL THE DANGER: First of all, feel the danger. If you’re not on guard, you’ll not even realize you’re being seduced by temptation. Madison Avenue and Satan are slick. They package it in a way that if you’re not looking at it through spiritual eyes you’ll not even realize it is there. There are groups of people hearing my words today that I am concerned about. Here’s who they are. It’s those person who, when they see someone else fall in to sin, they say to themselves, "that would never happen to me". If that’s your attitude, friends, I’ve got to warn you—you are in great danger! We’ve got to say to ourselves constantly, "there but for the grace of God go I". That can happen to me. For friends, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are engaged in a spiritual battle for the rest of your life. Peter put it this way when he wrote, "The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". He’s looking for you; he’s looking for me. But you know, I learned first-hand something about lions when I was in Africa. Lions blend in perfectly with the landscape. When we were out with our guide going through the national park the guide would stop the vehicle and he’d say, "Over there is a lion." And we’d say, "Where?" We couldn’t see because they blend perfectly in to the landscape. And you know the other thing I learned? Lions are extremely quiet animals until they roar and are ready to pounce on their prey.
In his book, "Christian Warfare", Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, listen carefully, "Not to realize that you are in a conflict means that you are already defeated! Anyone who is not aware of a fight and a conflict in a spiritual sense is in a drugged and hazardous condition." It is essential, like Joseph, that you first of all "feel" the danger around you. Do we have any Star Trek fans out here? Let me see your hand if you’re a Star Trek fan. A couple. For you Star Trek fans you need to follow the example of Captain Kirk who, when danger approached, calls out what, Rick? "Red Alert – Shields Up"! You’ve got to "feel the danger". And then like Joseph you have to ….
LEAVE THE AREA: Mrs. Potiphar pursued Joseph so relentlessly that eventually his only option was to run. He only made one mistake—he left his coat. And you know, come to think about it, coats were always something of a problem for old Joseph! When temptation confronts you and me, and friends, believe me I’m preaching this sermon in to the mirror. Preachers aren’t immune from temptation. Sometimes we deal with it even more. When temptation confronts you and me, we’ve got to flee. We’ve got to leave the room. We’ve got to change plans. We may need to cancel the movie subscriptions even though there’s some good stuff on there we’d like to see. You may have heard me tell a few years ago we were getting HBO and ShowTime and weren’t paying for it. And I called the Cable channel and said, "Take it off." My boys were there and they said, "Dad, that’s stupid; you’re getting it for free." And again, I have nothing against the movie channels, but I know my Achilles heel and it’s too easy to channel surf and hit on something I don’t want to see. And for me the best approach is not to have the channel there. Purchase an Internet filter. Do whatever it takes to keep the temptation from gaining control over you.
I Corinthians 10:13 that we read earlier, God’s Word tells us "with the temptation, we will be given a way of escape". You’re be given a way of escape but the problem is we don’t use God’s escape route. We play around with the fire too long and then we say to ourselves, "Oh, my, why did I get burned?" It was Franklin Jones who said, "What makes resisting temptation difficult for many people is they don’t want to discourage it completely!" You need to hear that again. What makes temptation so difficult for many people is they don’t want to discourage it completely. I’ll just play around with it a little bit. Feel the danger; leave the area, and the 3rd step?
EXPERIENCE GOD’S PLEASURE: And this is the one we’ve got to think about a little bit for this is very profound. Joseph recognized the hand of God upon his life. And to use the words from our text last week, "He chose not to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, for he was looking ahead to his reward." Joseph realized that to give in to this woman’s advances would be the ultimate expression of ingratitude for all that God had blessed him. And I’m sure Joseph thought to himself, "Hey, nobody’s around. A little time in the sack with Potiphar’s wife would be great fun." But then he thought, "Oh, but how God’s blessed me. It would be a sin against the God who has blessed me this much. I can’t do it! I can’t do it!"
Hear the words of F. B. Myer in his book, "Christ in Isaiah". They’ll be on the screen. Myer writes, "This is the bitterest of all. To know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one’s own sowing that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one’s own rearing. Ah me! This is pain!" And friends, only a deep and abiding relationship and walk with the Lord where we experience the joy and pleasure of intimate communion with God, only that is enough to spare us the pain that Myer talks about in that book. God’s plan for surviving temptation—feel the danger, leave the area, experience God’s pleasure, and then finally…
ESTABLISH PROTECTIONS: Reading between the lines, we can infer that Joseph knew Potiphar’s wife had eyes for him. He probably went out of his way to be sure they weren’t alone together. And when she arranged things so they were, Joseph had already scouted out the escape route. Those of you who still have children at home, I bet you’ve sat down with them and said, "If there’s ever a fire at night, here’s the way out." You want them to know it in advance. Well, what about you and me? Do we know our Achilles’ heel when it comes to temptation? I want to repeat that. You’ve all got one, or two, or three. Do you know your Achilles heel? For instance, gambling has no attraction to me at all but there are some of you who really struggle with that one. Some of you the sexual enticement is no problem at all and for others it’s a big one. Some of you don’t have any problem at all with gossip; others of you can’t wait to get the next juicy bit. We’ve got to know our Achilles heel and we’ve got to map out our defenses. Think about what an infantry unit does when it’s in the field of battle--they immediately, upon arrival at a new location, set up a perimeter defense. They clear brush, they erect barriers, they wire explosives, and they post guards. We must do the same.
And hear carefully this essential truth from God’s Word. It’s not enough just to avoid evil. Like Jesus’ parable of the empty house in Matthew 12, you’ve got to do more, friends, than just sweep the house clean. You’ve got to put in the house the things of God. Ephesians 6 probably is a good place for us to end today. The words are on the screen. "Be strong IN THE LORD and in His might power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." Now notice it says "be strong in the Lord". If you think you are strong enough yourself to overcome temptation on your own, Satan is laughing all the way to death. "Stand firm with the belt of TRUTH buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS in place, and with your feet fitted with the READINESS that comes from the gospel of peace. Take up the shield of FAITH to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of SALVATION and the sword of the Spirit which is THE WORD OF GOD." The things that were highlighted in yellow are the part of the repertoire. You need every one of them for battle.
There are four scripture verses we’d like you to memorize during this 50-Day Adventure. The first one is I Peter 2:11 and I ask you to read it with me now. "Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires, because they fight against your very souls." God’s plan for victory over temptation? Flee! But you have to choose to work the plan.
E-mail Comments to: Reverend Dan Sinkhorn