Well, it's time for confession and public confessions today, so I'm going to admit to you, confess to you in our group therapy session here this morning, that I have an addiction. My addiction has put me in a place where it's confession time with you. It's an addiction. Some would say it's a dependence. It's something I developed when I lived in Virginia Beach, and it remains with me to this day in Michigan. There are some indicators that I have problems. There's no control. I've lost control on this. I can participate in this almost without trying. It's a constant struggle through the day, whether I'm at the office or at home, and even through the night sometimes. Sometimes it can occupy my mind and my attention 24-7. You say, what's your addiction? My addiction is the weather channel and the accompanying app on my phone. I'm just telling you, it started in Virginia Beach and it dogs me to this very day. When Virginia Beach, I would stare at that station on my TV whenever all the hurricanes were coming through our area and tropical storms. I would watch that thing. I'd wake up at 4 in the morning, get a drink of water, and check the weather channel. Where's that storm? And then when I came to Michigan, it didn't help. Now I'm like, where did winter go? And I've been here for eight of them. There's only been one good one. So nothing's changed. And whether it's hurricanes or Michigan winters, I'm fixated on the Weather Channel or the app. My wife literally could walk in the room when we lived in Virginia Beach and say, look at me in the eyes. Just look at me in the eyes. Do three things. Pick up the remote, push off, and leave the room. You can do this. I'm here to support you. And then, of course, I could sneak the Weather Channel in on my phone when no one was looking. So far I haven't needed medication for my addiction. Experts think my recovery will be complete finally when El Nino leaves. And so you guys can think about my problems and pray for me, right? While the weather channel addiction may seem relatively light, There's another addiction that I want to talk about this morning and have been talking about for these Sunday mornings that is extremely serious. It's not funny. What is this addiction? It's the addiction, it's the pull, it's the fixation and the participation in sensuality and in immorality. Sensuality by yourself, immorality with others. My sister texted me this weekend, as she always does, and says she's praying for you, our church family, and for me as I finish my preparation for the sermon this weekend. She says, how you doing? I'm praying for you. I said, actually, it's kind of rough right now. Because I just downloaded and read through the most current statistics on just pornography from Covenant Eyes, a Christian organization. And to be honest, it's just very difficult. And of the 18 or 22 pages of the report, the most recent report, there's so much of it, most of it I won't even share with you. But I need you to feel some weight this morning as we press into this topic. So I'm trying to be sensitive with the ones I've chosen. According to the most recent report, it's projected that virtual reality porn will be a $1 billion business by 2025. It will be third in the list of virtual reality businesses worldwide. Number one being the virtual reality of the NFL related software. Number two is virtual reality video games. Those are 1.23 billion and 1.4 billion. But porn will be 1 billion within a year. $13 billion is the estimated annual revenue for sex-related entertainment in our country. Videos that include sales, rentals, streaming, pay-per-view stuff, phone, etc. And you say, well, you know, I might not be able to wrap my arms around dollar figures and billions like that, and it is difficult. But not as difficult as the numbers I'm going to share here. 25,258 users are watching porn every second. $3,075.64 are spent on porn every second on the internet. One in five mobile searches are for pornography. 25% of teens receive sexts, S-E-X-T-S, sext messages. 27% of our teens receive those. 15% of our teens are sending them. 57% of teens search out porn monthly. The first average exposure age for Teens remains 11 and 12 years old. 71% of teens hide online behavior from their parents. You say, well, that's a lot about teens. Well, how about this one? 68% of divorces involve one party meeting a lover online. According to Barna, which is quoted by Covenant Eyes in their most recent report, 55% of married men view pornography one time a month. 70% of unmarried men do. According to Barna again, 25%, one in four, of married women view porn once a month. 16% of the unmarried women do. It's sickening. It's heavy. The word I use for my sister and my text message back is it's dark. And these are the ones I was going to say in front of you. But I'll suffice, or I'll let it suffice to read an observation by Clay Olson that showed up in this report. He's a co-founder and CEO of Fight the New Drug. Really like that title, by the way, when we're talking about this. It's an addiction. And Clay Olson says, this material is more aggressive, more harmful, more violent, more degrading, and damaging than any other time in the history of the world. And this generation growing up is dealing with it to an intensity and scale no other generation in the history of the world has ever had to, end quote. You say, well, how can we say that ever in the world and in history and all that because of technology and the sheer number of the globe's population? That's why. This is the current you swim against as disciples of Jesus. This pull towards sensuality, this pull towards immorality, Like a drowning river left by a hurricane, this pole is a killer. And we're just talking about porn stats. We're not talking about illegitimate relationships. We're not even talking about dealing with internal temptations, not just towards immorality with the opposite sex, but same-sex attraction. and the curiosity that's birthed with that, and the indulgence. This pole is a killer. Whether it's you alone with technology, you alone by yourself, or you alone with someone else. That's why the Apostle Paul sounds the alarm like he does in Colossians chapter 3. I quote the first four verses often from Colossians 3. In case you don't have them fresh in your mind, here it is. If then you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is your life is revealed, then you'll also be revealed with Him in glory. That's verses 1-4. Listen to verses 5-7. This is a warning from Paul to cultures like ours fighting sensuality and immorality. Verse 5, therefore, since your affections are fixed on Christ and on above, therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry. For it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also once walked when you were living in them." So I'm sounding an alarm along the same line this morning to you. You, whatever generation you're in, Whatever status of life you're in, married or single, whatever your temptation is, whether it's to technology and porn, or whether it's to same-sex attraction and experimentation, or whether it's to flirtation, you can stand strong against this pull. I know. We've looked together in this series and saw an example of a man, none other than King David, confronted with this same pull and he drowned. We have a question now. Is there an example in the Bible of a man confronted with this pull who survived? The answer is yes. This morning I want to remind you of a man named Joseph. I've asked you to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 39. But I want you to hold your finger there and go back a page or two to Genesis 37. I want to remind you who Joseph is. Joseph is the favorite son or the favored son of Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, now it's Jacob. And to Jacob was born these twelve sons. And Joseph is the favored one. Joseph in Genesis chapter 37 verse 3 Israel or Jacob loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was a son of his old age. And he made him a very colored tunic and his brothers saw that their father loved him. more than all the other brothers, so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. He was a favored son of Jacob, but he was, as you can tell by verse 4, he was hated by his brothers. Look at verse 5. Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. Look at verse 8, Then his brothers said to him, Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Look at verse 10, And he related it to his father, another dream, and to his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come bow ourselves down to you to the ground and his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the saying in mind you know the story Joseph went to find his brothers at his father's bidding and found them far away and and they of course threw him in a pit had thought of murdering him and And one of the brothers, as an advocate, said, let's sell him. Let's don't murder him. And it's called the Dotham trade. You read about that in chapter 37, verses 12 to 36. And he's taken to Egypt. And in Egypt, he became Potiphar's servant, a high-ranking official in Egypt. And you see that in chapter 39. Now look at 39 verse 1. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. So he's Potiphar's servant now and God just blesses him and prospers Potiphar because of Joseph. So Potiphar makes him his personal servant. Look at verse 2. The Lord was with Joseph so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. He was elevated from all the other servants to be his personal servant and now Potiphar can see up close the blessing that is his because of the presence of Joseph. So he makes him his personal servant and then his personal manager. He's over everything under Joseph. Look at verse 4. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant and he made him overseer over his house. And all that he owned he put in his charge. No one else had this elevation. Except Joseph. With all the many servants a man like this with this status would have had, Joseph is at the top of the pyramid. Verse 5, it came about from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned the Lord blessed the Egyptians house on account of Joseph. Thus the Lord's blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So he just left everything he owned in Joseph's charge. And with him there, he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. That's Joseph. But you're racing ahead of me in your mind and rightfully so. There's one more part. to the story, isn't it, at this point in Joseph's life? There in Potiphar's house. It's Potiphar's wife. Look at verse seven. The end of verse six says, now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. That's pretty rare in scripture for the beauty of a man to be described. You see it with King David. You see some language of that in the Song of Solomon, but not too often beyond that do you see a description like that. That's setting the tone for verse seven and following. It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph. And she said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, behold with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. And he's put all that he owns in my charge. And there is no one greater in this house than I. And he has withheld nothing from me except you. Because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were there inside and she caught him by his garment. It's a very physical, brutal expression. This is how men handle men in rough play or even perhaps in conflict. That's the kind of language we're seeing here. She caught him by his garment and said, lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled. And he went outside. Yeah, there was Potiphar's wife too. And I can't think of a more helpful illustration and an example to us of a man, listen, who was independent from his family, He was in a godless context where he could have washed his hands clean like some of his brothers had already started to do practically towards any kind of loyalty towards Yahweh. I mean, this is called a green light with no heavy weights hanging over your head. It's in this context, this young man, is confronted with anything that a lot of the other servants there would have dreamed of. Indulgence without consequence. As a matter of fact, listen, if there was indulgence, there may be advance in the status with the other servants. He's confronted by it. No cost to him. Humanly speaking. You see, what happens when temptation like this assaulted Joseph? He didn't sink. He didn't get destroyed. And I think it would behoove all of us to take a fresh look at a familiar Sunday school personality, Joseph, and see the threefold example that he leaves you when you don't have accountability. Some of you don't have accountability because of just the chapter of life you're in. Others don't have accountability, and those around you don't know that you're not accountable because of your understanding of tech and your ability to separate yourself from others. Joseph didn't drown. And I want you to note his threefold example. You can call them the three Rs, if you will. The first one is this. Where does it start? Remember your God. During the intensity of temptation, whether it's with someone else, or whether it's in your own heart, or whether it's with... In the moment of temptation, start here. Remember your God. Did you notice when I read that what Joseph didn't say? When confronted with indulgence, and sensuality and immorality. He didn't say, well, what about my career? He acknowledges that he's in a good place, but that's not the capstone where he lands. He didn't start with, what about my reputation? What about contracting a disease? What about an unplanned pregnancy? That's not where he started. He didn't start with his bitterness that anyone else wouldn't have blamed him for with all that's gone on with his brothers and what they did to him. Where did he start? What was the capstone that kept him from indulging? Again, look at verse 7. It came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph and she said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in this house. He owns in my charge. There's no one greater in this house than I. He's building towards something. And he has withheld nothing from me except you because you're his wife. But here's the capstone. This is what he's building to in verses 8 and 9. How then This is the turning point. He's going to give the reason he doesn't indulge. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? You see, where did he put his full weight down in his foot onto the brake? It was with the thought of God. We must start where Joseph starts. When she says in verse 8, lie with me, it's a very short two-word phrase. In one commentary, one Old Testament scholar, Bruce Watke, says simply, this was nothing but brutish lust on the part of Potiphar's wife. And the short form of it only paints the picture of how brutish it is. Joseph says, I'm not going to do it. Joseph didn't say it wouldn't be enjoyable. It wouldn't be physically enjoyable. But he says there's something big here at play. It's a line I'm not going to cross. And it's God. This look up during the moment of temptation will suddenly give you clarity of sight. It will give you situational awareness. and in the fog of war, the fog of temptation, it will remind you where your true north is. Remember your God. You say, well, what do we remember about God? Well, a couple of things I see here in the text. First of all, God is the one from whom grace has been abundant. He's done so much for me. In verses 8 and 9, as Joseph rehearses where he is in his career with Potiphar's house and Enterprise, he's not doing it to praise himself, how he's padded the resume, and look at my career I've built, I don't want to put it at risk. He's saying, all this came from the one that matters the most to me, from God Himself. He recounts God's blessings in his life. God's grace that has rescued him from a very sad low. And for some reason, only known to God, has elevated him to a place of influence and trust. You get those familiar voices of temptation calling out to you. The first thing you need to do is remember God and His kindnesses to you up to this point in your life. Psalm 103, verse 2, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. Psalm 116, verse 12, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? Yeah. So I wonder, do you have a list ready to go in the notes in your iPhone or in your journal? Or a sticky note on the mirror or the fridge? Can you name your blessings? You've already thought them through for when the fog descends and calls out to you how God has protected you from your childhood. You say, well, what happens if there was innocence lost in childhood because of adults? You're still there. And God has protected you and has brought you to a place where He saved you and He's walked with you and He's never left you. He's protected you. And then also on your list, you should have something about all the training, all the teaching, all the preaching, all the books you've read about this area and how to survive the onslaught of the culture. Also on your list should be your church family. Which, last I heard, your church family is a community of grace that wants to glorify God by making disciples who worship. and serve and witness and disciple. What about your marriage, which is a gift from God if you're married? Even in your singleness, there is a grace and a strength for purity that is sufficient to weather the storms of our culture. Oh, His blessings and benefits. And how about those times, those events, or even those seasons where you started to drown? And God came for you. Keeping all His promises to rescue you. Remember those times? Oh, the benefits of God. Keep a journal. Find the themes in your journal of God's benefits and find songs that sing them. Have them ready to go. He is the one from whom grace has been abundant, but He's also remembering something else about God. He remembers that God is the one by whom temptation must gain access. Now this is a heavy one. Listen carefully. You understand Scripture is clear. Temptations to sin don't originate in God. James 1.13 says, let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. I'm helped with the short, pithy, Explanations of this, say from R.C. Sproul, he writes, there is a difference between temptations that arise from our own sinful inclinations, those are internal, and those coming from without, those are external. And then he writes this, the testing of our faith may be the occasion for temptation to come, both internal and external, yet the temptations never have God as their author. Or John MacArthur puts it this way, in one sentence, God purposes trials to occur and in them he allows temptations to come. God is the one by whom temptation must gain access. You remember Job, remember that? We talked about this a couple Sunday nights ago if you were one of those who were able to be with us for that study. Temptations to sin, listen, reach you only by God's permission. Job 1.12, Then the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that Job has is in your power. Only do not put forth your hand on him. So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord. Job 2.6, So the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your power. Only spare his life. I'll permit, but I'm still in control. God says to Satan, And a well-known statement by John Piper summarizes this. Piper writes, My brothers and sisters, my friends, this gives you hope. That the onslaught that you feel, the pull, the tractor beam towards immorality and sensuality every day is something that's common to man. And God's in control. And nothing will reach you but that the test itself passing it through God's grace and resources in Christ will actually make you more like Christ than if you hadn't faced it. There's a third thing that he remembered about his God. And it's this, God is the one against whom sin is ultimately aimed. It sure is. God is the one against whom sin is ultimately aimed. What did he say here? How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? When David repented of his sin of adultery, immorality, sensuality, the whole gamut. In Psalm 51, verse 4, in his prayer he says, against you, And you only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge." Wait a minute, Dave. Back it up. Rewind it a few frames here. You sinned against Uriah. Yes. You sinned against Bathsheba. Mm-hmm. You sinned against your advisors. Yes. You sinned against the kingdom. Mm-hmm. But he says, ultimately, it was against God. You remember Joseph's grandmother, Sarah, when she was taken captive by King Abimelech. God said to King Abimelech in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me. That's Genesis 20, verse 6. Proverbs 15, verse 3 says, the eyes of the Lord are on every place watching evil and the good. This is serious stuff. It's against God, ultimately. It's a very frontal assail of the holy God. The Puritan writers were very well aware of this. One of the names that you're probably familiar with from the Puritan era, Thomas Brooks, writes these words. A holy man or a holy woman knows that all sin strikes at the holiness of God, the glory of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the law of God. And therefore his heart rises against all. He looks upon every sin as the scribes and Pharisees that accused Christ. and as that Judas that betrayed Christ, and as that Pilate that condemned Christ, and as those soldiers that scourged Christ, and as those spears that pierced Christ. Puritans had a way of using nouns and verbs for vivid clarity. I want to stop here for just a second. It's a crushing weight, isn't it? To know that these temptations are coming and the frequency of them, not just the external ones, but the internal ones that we can generate simply from fantasy and memorized experiences or exposures. It's incessant, brothers and sisters. It's crushing. It is. That's why I'm so thankful that Christ died for my sin. And that Christ faced absolutely every test, external, invitation to indulge, to sin, to not trust in God, to bow to Satan, if you will. He remained perfectly righteous. And not only did He die for the sins of those who would believe, but He transfers. There's an exchange. He gives you His righteousness when in fact, you and I have failed miserably. He paid for our sin and He gives us His righteousness. What is a crushing news is also good news, as the Puritan said. Until sin becomes bitter, grace doesn't become sweet. Well, it's not just a matter of looking up this three-part plan from Joseph. But it also has something to do with looking away. And this brings us to the second R in his example. Refuse to listen. refused to listen. Now I want you to enter this room in verse 10 of chapter 39. And she spoke to Joseph day after day and he did not listen to her to lie beside her or even to be with her. Refuse to listen. You see, a couple of statements here. First of all, Joseph understood the timeless dynamics of temptation. The timeless dynamics of temptation. I mean, here is a book on your lap and on my desk up here. It's a book that is many, many centuries old, yet it still reads like the daily news, doesn't it? It says to us, there's no test that has overtaken you but such as is common to man. You see, as I read Genesis 39, I see that Joseph's temptation dynamics are the same for you. In this culture. Against the invitation to sensuality and immorality at the communal level or the private level. It's the same dynamic for temptation. It appeals to the lust of the flesh, that's what I like. It appeals to the lust of the eyes, that's what I lack. And it appeals to the boastful pride of life, that's how I look. Temptation always appeals to those three. And it's here, I want you to hold your finger. in Genesis 39. And take your New Testament eyes and go with me to Romans 6. Because there's a key passage in Romans 6 that's going to teach us what we're seeing in Joseph's life in Genesis. But it's going to involve the indwelling Holy Spirit, but it's going to teach the same safety. Romans 6. You know these verses. Actually, if we had time, we would do Romans 6-8, the chapters. Because of time, I want to pull the main thoughts from these two verses clumped right here. Romans 6, verse 12, Therefore, do not let sin reign in your, and this is an important phrase, mortal body, so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments or weapons of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be a master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. But I want you to focus on just verses 12-13 in this broader context. What is Paul teaching us? He's teaching us in doctrine, and in a very practical manner, we're seeing lived out by Joseph. And that you need this Tuesday, when you're by yourself, in your car, or at that lunch, or under the glow of your phone, this is it. What do you need to do? What is Paul telling us, and what is Joseph demonstrating? First of all, expose sin for what it is. Expose sin for what it is. Verse 12, it says, therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Don't let it reign. You know what sin is? Sin is a dethroned enemy. A dethroned king, if you will. It's a defeated army machine. Battle machine. Jerry Bridges wrote a book that we're so familiar with, with good reason, it's called The Pursuit of Holiness. Remember that book? It's been around like forever, since early 80s or late 70s, something like that. It's called The Pursuit of Holiness. And I love his little illustration to make this point that sin is a dethroned enemy. Bridges writes in that book, Pursuit of Holiness, quote, in a particular nation, two competing factions were fighting for control of the country. Eventually, with the help of an outside army, one faction won the war and assumed control of the nation's government. But the losing side did not stop fighting. They simply changed their tactics to guerrilla warfare and continued to fight. In fact, they were so successful that the country supplying the outside help could not withdraw its troops. Sounds like I'm reading from the daily headlines internationally, doesn't it? You have a vivid illustration today of what Bridges writes about. Exposed sin for what it is. It's defeated, but it's still fighting. Galatians 5.17 Paul writes, I don't know how sin is calling out to you. Particularly these sins of immorality and sensuality. But no matter how that sin and that call comes to you, whether it's in great numbers of the mood of the mob, whether it's the culture, whether it shows up with loud trumpets and show of force, you don't have to submit to defeated King. Well, expose sin. for what it is. But number two, what's Paul teaching us here that we're seeing in Joseph? Respect sin for what it wants. Respect sin for what it wants. Look at v. 12 again of Romans 6. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. And in v. 13, the word members is talking about your mortal body. the eyes, the legs, the hands, to your mortal body. That's what sin wants. Your mortal body. You can look at this particular Greek word as meaning the part of you that's subject to death. Paul will equate this in another passage in 1 Corinthians 15-53 with the part of you that's perishable and corruptible. I like how John MacArthur puts it. He says, based on Romans 6 and passages like this, we have to understand that as God's children, we are incarcerated in unredeemed flesh. Unredeemed humanity. In other words, your flesh, your physical body, is the only remaining beachhead for sin in your life. And sin wants it. It wants to connect with your flesh. And as the only remaining beachhead, if we take an island that's been conquered by terrorists, and we occupy that island, the terrorists are banished, but there's still one vulnerable beachhead. We're going to put our special forces on that beachhead. That's where we expect the attack. And again, that gives us hope. You have hope. If you have struggled with this area in your life or are struggling right now, you have hope. You can finally stop thinking that your struggle is your destiny. You can finally stop thinking that your struggle is your identity. You can finally stop pointing to your past, whether it's to parents, or trauma, or your failures in indulgence, or to some sort of an imbalance. There's hope. Romans 8.11 says, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. The place you're most vulnerable, your flesh, the Spirit Himself will even meet you there for the battle. It's through His Spirit who dwells in you, Paul writes. So expose sin for what it is. Respect sin for what it wants. Number three, understand sin and what it does. Understand sin and what it does. Again, look at v. 12. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust. What does sin do? Listen to this. The dethroned enemy who relentlessly pursues its only remaining beachhead in your life has one purpose. It's getting you as a child of God to form habits of the body. Habits of obedience involving your mortal body's lust. That's what sin does so that you will obey sin. This is listening with the intent of obeying. Epithumia is the word for lust and desire. It's any intense drive or craving. Never forget this. As far as your lust and my lust, Your body's lusts are deceitful. They lie to you. Ephesians 4.22 speaks of the deceitfulness of sin, as does Hebrews 3.13, lies of deceit. But they're not only deceitful, what they promise is temporary. Hebrews 11.25 calls it the passing pleasures of sin. So here's what this means. On this side of heaven, the body will emit strong passions for sin and will seek every opportunity for gratification. This intense struggle should not be surprising, but expected. This is timeless. Let me speak to my military active duty and vets at this point. Roger that? You copy that? You got the sit rep? Don't be surprised. But then the fourth thing is this. Rob sin of what it needs. Rob sin of what it needs. It needs the body. It needs engagement and obedience from your mortal body. That's why Paul says in v. 13, so don't go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments or weapons of unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Make your physical bodies available to obey God, not sin. Don't parade images in front of you. Don't entertain provocative conversations around you. Never trust a curious click with your computer. I see a principle here. The most healthy thing a Christian can possess is an unhealthy view of his or her flesh. This requires honesty. You're not above anything. You say, well, that thought of that nausea, you know, you're not above anything. Galatians 6.1 says, as you try to help someone else who's caught in a sin, watch yourself. And Paul writes, lest you be tempted too. 1 Corinthians 10-12, if you stand, take heed that you don't fall. This principle requires honesty, but it also requires some investigation. It really does. Into your days, what elements in your life pull you towards sensuality? Is it your movies? Your streaming? Is it your social media? Not just the stream and the news, but the movies you have access to and the logarithm, don't forget, memorizes you. Is it the lyrics of your music? Is it the relationships that you've allowed to get much closer than is appropriate? Maybe you're just angry at legalism from the past in your life, and I'm not going to go back there. Or maybe you're angry at the political rancor that's going on around us in our culture. You understand that Scripture very clearly in Colossians 3, as one of the passages, ties anger with sensuality. Paul will write in Romans 13-14, "...put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh with regards to its lusts." It just takes a little opening. Even if it's something you've had victory over for years, just a little opening again, and it comes back in full force. Looking away, though, will give way to running away, if needed, as well. And this is the third hour before we finish. Retreat to safety. Retreat to safety. Look at verses 11 and 12. of Genesis chapter 39. I'm sorry, go back to Genesis 39. Genesis 39. I know this has been heavy, but we're not through it yet. Verses 11 and 12. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household were there inside, She caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. And he left. Verse 8, he refused. Verse 10, he didn't listen. Verse 12, he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. The third R is retreat to safety. One of my favorite commentators On the book of Genesis is a man named John Davis, and he wrote a book on Genesis called From Paradise to Prison. And he says this about this very point. He says, unfortunately, many believers today flee temptation only to wait around the corner for it to catch up to them. Here's the fact. As we watch this man, a man's man, The fact is, there is a time to run. There is a time to run. If the Weather Channel app, I have a little authority on this, and you have to be living on the coast and eastern seaboard, says this is a Cat 3 hurricane, it's going to hit Chesapeake Bay. There's a time to run. There's nothing manly about facing the onslaught of a storm that deadly. Real men are allowed to flee. 2 Timothy 2.22, flee youthful lust. 1 Corinthians 6.18, flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Proverbs 4, verses 14-15. Do not enter the path of the wicked. Do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Do not pass by it. Turn away from it and pass on. Proverbs 4.27, turn your foot from evil. David in Psalm 101, verses 2 and 4. I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. I will know no evil. You say, when do you have to do this? Well, you have to do this when the temptation is relentless. This lady, easily accessible and inviting and even forceful with her words and with her grasp. That's pretty relentless. And sometimes you have to leave the robe, if you will. Or as Jesus will say in Matthew 5, 29-30, or Ben read it earlier in the service, sometimes you have to cut off arms and pull out eyes and throw them away from you. Hear what Jesus is saying. He's not calling for physical amputation. He's calling for a radical amputation. Whatever's in your life that puts you in front of this temptation, be big enough. Be consistent with the gospel to excise those out of your life. Even if others haven't. Don't think you can handle something because someone else can. Turn the power off. Throw it in the trash can. Look at your daily routine, your daily drive, your definition of fun. Does something need to change? Or are you wanting to stay in the same room as Potiphar's wife? Run when temptation is relentless and run when the appearance is compromising. I mean, check this out. He is alone in the house with a woman who no doubt had preyed on other servants before him. Scripture doesn't say that, but her character is right here in the window now. It just doesn't look good, Joseph. Don't let fear of man win these moments in your life. 1 Thessalonians 5.22, abstain from every form of evil. 2 Corinthians 6.3, giving no cause for offense in anything. I know I, as a man, as a Christian, I have to be careful with how I use my time. I have to be careful of counseling scenarios that I set up. I need to be careful of evangelistic conversations I pursue or have. I need to guard alone time in my life. I have to run and so do you. William McDonald, I so appreciate his comments. This one sentence talking about Joseph. He says, quote, Joseph lost his coat but saved his character and eventually gained a crown. Yeah. You say, well, Joseph's going to suffer for this. Potiphar's husband's going to come and the whole thing. He's going to get put in jail. Yeah, but you know the rest of the story. Scholar Derek Kidner comments, the good seed, that's Joseph, the good seed is buried yet deeper only to still push up higher. So take it from a guy named Joseph who survived the current that calls out to you every day. Whatever your chapter of life is, whatever your age, it calls out every day. What did he do? It's real simple. It's not a technical exegetical outline. Remember, you're God. refuse to listen, and retreat to safety. That's it. Now to those of you who don't yet know this God in a personal way, you haven't pressed past just being religious. This message is hope for you. Because under the crushing weight of your sin and conscience, Because of your heart that can produce things like this, there is a Redeemer. That if you come to Christ and confess your sin, my friend, He'll forgive you. If you believe Him and receive Him as the infinite God-man, and embrace the work He did of dying and rising again, and He's seated at the Father's right hand now, offering you forgiveness of sin, run to Him. And all the sin will be gone. You'll still be in a fight, but the penalty for the sin is gone. On top of that, when the Heavenly Father looks at you, He sees you through Christ perfectly righteous. When you know as well as I do, we don't deserve that. That's called grace. This is your hope. And this story and this doctrine we've been studying this morning from Genesis and Romans is not only our hope, but as believers, it's our help. It's our self-defense. You see, self-defense isn't an issue of merely following this three-fold example just one time. Or once in a lifetime. It's every time. This is always the plan. As a matter of fact, situational awareness is a way of life. Paul's final words included these in 2 Timothy 4, I fought the good fight. And the structure of that is right up to this very moment. Paul, I'm still fighting, he says. I've told you this before. I'd love to take a group from our church, maybe fathers and sons or just whoever wants to go to West Virginia, Mary, Beckley, West Virginia, to the New River Gorge for the best whitewater rafting you'll ever do. I already know who I'll work through. I'll work through Alpine Ministries, a ministry of Appalachian Bible College, where I do some teaching. They have great guides for the river. They have all cutting-edge guides as well as equipment. But I just want to tell you, when we go there and it's time to get on the river, they're going to make us meet in a pavilion first. And they're going to give us a 20-minute red-faced sermon on what to do and what not to do on this new river gorge because of the rapids, because of the deadly hydraulics in this water where people die. And I've gone with them a couple times. I've taken teens down the river there. And I look around the room because I've heard the speech a lot, and it's very important, but I also notice people in the room, it's their first time, they're not listening. They're messing around. They want to get in the water. They're hot. But there's something about the intensity of these guides. Because the guides know the river and the deadly potential, and they want you to live. Now listen, hear the voice of Scripture this morning. Whether you're indulging right now, you got hope. You need to repent. Look at Joseph. If you're not hearing this voice in this moment, remember this because you will. Listen to the prep talk. Because whether you are standing in the river or by the river, you still need God's grace every day. Or as Paul said in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1, be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank You for this window of Scripture where we can look through this window at these moments in this chapter in Joseph's life And when we bring what we've seen and how Paul has added commentary from Romans into what was going on, we find ourselves at the end of the service back in these statistics that I started the sermon with. In this culture that is inviting us in every medium at every age to indulge in sensuality and immorality. Either by ourselves or with others. And we find that this old story is still the only right battle plan. As we fight this current, Lord, magnify Yourself with multiple, multiple victories today under the sound of my voice in an awake of this sermon from Your Word. In Jesus' name I pray.