Know Your Exit

Before you welcome all of our campuses this morning, I just want to tell you a little bit about our campuses that you are welcoming. As you know, some of my favorite people in the world are our Westminster campus. They're up there doing a great work of the Lord. We're so excited about that. As you know, we're moving our Colorado Springs campus somewhere up near Douglas County. We've been working on where the Lord's gonna open that for us. We also have campuses. Amen. (congregation applauding) We also have campuses because a year ago when we started with 21 days of prayer and fasting, the Lord put on my heart. I was in prison and you visited Maine. And so we began prison ministry. This week we opened up our fourth campus for prisons. Last night they had over 120 guys that showed up. (congregation applauding) That's the FCI National Pen here in Inglewood. So it's right down the street. We're also in the ADX Supermax where they can't gather everybody 'cause guys are on lockdown, 23 hours a day. Our messages are being put there. Our services are being put there so that guys can see 'em. We have about three more in the hopper. The deputy director is telling us, we want you to get in as many of these as you possibly can.

We're hearing about different states now and all of this. I say that to tell you, we can only go as far as we have volunteers to help. And so we're praying that the Lord would raise up more volunteers. And in addition to all that, we have people watching us literally all over the world every single weekend that are tuning in. People that locally can't get here. People that are on vacation like my buddy Brock in Kansas City, hi Brock. He can't be here today. And then a bunch of people all over the world that are watching. So when you're welcoming everybody, that's who you're welcoming. You're welcoming thousands of people from around the world. So would you do me a favor today? Would you welcome all of our campuses this morning? Tell 'em how glad you are. We're working to do that. (audience applauds) Super excited about all the Lord's doing with that. Let's go before the Lord and ask Him to bless the preaching of His Word. Father in Heaven, we give you praise, glory, and honor for who you are. And Lord, we ask in these moments that we have together for you to speak clearly to us. Lord, what a privilege it is to come into your house

with your people and seek your face by worshiping your name. To gather with one another as saints and call out names of those who are lost that we wanna see have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. To be part of a praying church that truly loves you and seeks you and knows you. And Lord, it's a privilege to be part of a church that wants to hear directly from you because Lord, we as a people believe every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen, amen. We're in a series called No Mercy and to give you a little backdrop of how we've gotten to where we are. We talked about how you have to know your enemy. We talked about the devil, the world and our sinful self but that first week we spent a ton of time on the sin in our lives that even remains after we become a believer.

That after we become a believer that sin still wants to have its way with us. Then we talked about how you have to know your identity because when you're born again, you're in new creation. Old things have passed away, behold new things have come. And so it's important, you don't just look at your behavior but you look at who you are. So if you live who you are, then your behavior will catch up with your identity. Then we talked about how you have to know your master. Who is it you're presenting yourself to? Like every day when you wake up, you can present the instruments of your body as to unrighteousness and to sin or you can present the instruments of your body to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we talked about how you have to know your weakness that we all have a blind spot. Here's what the blind spot looks like. While the law is good, it's holy, it's righteous. It points out God is wonderful and perfect in every way and points out that we're not. The weakness that we have is we think that the law can help us get better. So we run back to the law for changes that the law can't make, the changes that only Jesus Christ can make. Which is why last week we talked about how to know your power. That as a born again believer, when you repent

and place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and rose from the dead, you are empowered with the Holy Spirit. The same one who raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in you, therefore you have power over sin in your life. Not because of your power individually, but Christ in you, which is the hope of glory. So today we're gonna talk about the next step and it's how you know your exit. Because if you don't have to sin as a believer, then how is it you keep from sinning as a believer? How is it you can get out of a situation or get away from sin in such a way so it doesn't enslave you, ensnare you, entrap you or anything like that? And God has a way to do that. If you fly very often, I fly quite a bit. I like to sit in an exit row 'cause it has more seats. a flight attendant will come and talk to you, they will make you take your earbuds out, I know this from experience, and they will say the same thing every time. They will say this, in the event of an emergency, are you willing and able to assist? Something like that. And all you have to do is say, I need a verbal yes, yes, yes, yes. All these people say yes. And I'm looking around as if that's all it takes,

you know, just say yes and I'm in, but that's what they wanna do 'cause they wanna know that you're able to help get people out of the plane in the event that they need to exit. So the question this morning is, what's the exit strategy? Do you know the exit? I want you to think about what you're being tempted with. Do you know your way out? Do you know the path out? That's what we're gonna look at today. And I'm gonna give you five truths about how to find the way out so that you can do what the Lord wants because for too many Christians, we hit the easy button too often and we say this, well, God, I'll just forgive me anyway, so no big deal. And while God will forgive any and all sin for a truly repentant person, there are consequences to sin that you cannot measure, you can choose to sin, you just can't choose the consequence of your sin. And there are too many believers that are living with consequences of their sin, they didn't need to live with. And friends, I'm here to tell you this morning, there's a way out, there's an exit, but you need to know how to take the exit, amen? So to do that this morning,

we're gonna be in Genesis chapter 39, Genesis chapter 39, so open your copy of the scripture to Genesis chapter 39 today, and we're gonna look at a very familiar story from God's word, there's a lot of places we could have turned, but this is one of the few places in the Bible where you see a man of God do the very things that the man of God should be doing. The Bible's replete with stories of people who knew what they should do and didn't do what they were supposed to do, there's fewer stories of those who knew what they should do and did what they were supposed to do. This is one of those stories and we're gonna look at the life of Joseph. So as you're turning there to Genesis chapter 39, let me give you a little backdrop of this story, most of you know it. Joseph was one of 12 children, he was the beloved son because he was born from the wife that Jacob truly loved and he was the one that was given a fancy coat in front of all of his brothers. And then to make matters worse and to heighten jealousy, God spoke to him in a dream, he had two different dreams and the synopsis of the dream is, one day all my brothers will bow down to me. He decided he didn't wanna keep the dream a secret, he wanted to tell his brothers and it didn't go well. And when the brothers heard about the dream, they weren't nearly as excited about it as he was, so they sold him into slavery with the Ishmaelites,

they took his robe of many colors that their dad had given him, they ripped it up, dipped it to go to blood in it and went back to their dad, Jacob and said, "Joseph's dead, you don't need to worry about him anymore, it's just the 11 of us." Little did they know, little did his dad know that Joseph was still alive and this is where our story picks up in Genesis chapter 39. Notice this, it says, "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 Joseph's a slave of the Ishmaelites and he's been sold to Potiphar who's in charge of a big part of the Egyptian kingdom. Now I want you to see verse two, it's a powerful verse. It says, "The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian." How do you become a success in this life? If the Lord is with you. How is the Lord with you? If you're doing the things the Lord says. We have this false belief and idea that if we had different circumstances, different geography, different relationships, different gifts, different financial status that it would all work out. No, it doesn't matter where you are or with who you are if you're walking with the Lord,

you can have the favor of God on your life, right? And what we're gonna see in this story is God had a purpose for Joseph like he does for everybody and this is God's way of getting him there. So the Lord's favor was on Joseph. Favor does not mean you get what you want anytime you want it, okay? Favor means God is with you and you can experience God. And oftentimes what God does is he takes you on a route differently than you ever thought you'd go so he can get you to where he wants you to be. Amen? So the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph's a slave. He's a slave to the Ishmael I times me and sold to an Egyptian, but the Lord was with him. And if you're walking with the Lord, he's with you wherever you go. Now notice this, verse three. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. Even non-Christians can see the favor of God on your life when you walk with him. Did you know that? They see it by the way you treat your spouse. They see it by the way that you date. They see it by the way you handle money. They see it by the way that you're quick to forgive.

They see it by the way that you speak. They see it in your life. And all of us have had experiences of meeting someone that we'd never met before that's born again, that's filled with the spirit, that's walking with Jesus, and there's a drawing power to them. They're genuine, they're real, they're authentic. I can get along with this. There's something about that. So he's having Joseph walk with him, doing the things he does, and if you walk with the things of the Lord, you can experience God's favor and notice this. The non-believer, Potiphar, notices this. It's like everything Joseph does prosper. So what's he gonna do? So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant. So he's gone from being a slave to being sold as a different slave, and now he's gonna be his personal assistant. He's rising in status as we read, and he made him overseer of his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. Joseph was one of 12 brothers. Joseph gets sold into slavery. Joseph gets sold as a slave. Joseph's star starts rising. He's now a personal assistant to Potiphar. And now, because there's some favor of God on his life, Potiphar puts him in charge of everything in his whole house.

So he's an overseer of all these things. Who's the one that's allowing him to do all that? God is. Do you see that? I mean, God is with him, because God has a purpose for him, and this is God's plan in his life. Verse five and six highlight this even more. It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had 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. Listen to me, born again, believer, that has the favor of God on their life. Everywhere you go, God's favor is not only on your life. You're a blessing to everybody that you come into contact with. That's who you are. So when you have the favor of God on your life and you're walking with God and you're doing the things God wants, you're not only a blessing to yourself, you're a blessing to every single person that you meet. Your whole life is to be a living testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Joseph's doing. Joseph is a purchase slave, and Potiphar notices he's special. I'm gonna make him my personal attendant.

He's special. I'm gonna put him in charge of everything. And when I put him in charge of everything, everything I owned started prospering. Because of why? Because this man that was following God. Verse six, so he left everything he owned and Joseph's charge. And with him there, he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. That's a Hebrew idiom, basically. I mean, I don't trouble myself with anything Joseph does. I mean, I concern myself. I'm gonna eat food. And other than that, Joseph's got it all. I don't worry about the strategy. I don't worry about anything. Why? Because Joseph has it and God is with him. That's what he knows. He might not even know God's with him, but he sees it in Joseph, the favor of God on his life. Can I tell you why this is so important in our culture? 'Cause you've been sold a lie. And the lie tells you, if you go from point A to point B, then you'll be at point C. And if you get to point C, then you go to point D and then point D. And you'll just trajectory up.

And if you don't hit those points, there's something wrong with you. So you gotta go to the right grade nursery school so that you can get into the right grade school. And once you're in the right grade school, then you do that well so you can get in the middle school. And if you do middle school really well, you'll get into a good high school. If you get in good grades while you're in high school, you'll get into the right college. And based on your activities and where you wanna go to college, you better pick the right school. 'Cause it's there that you're gonna learn what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. And then when you get out, you gotta make the right amount of money so you can marry the right kind of spouse. And then once you get that, then you gotta figure out how many kids you want. You gotta do all that right while your job is flourishing so that you have enough money to take the trips you wanna take and do all that so that you'll be right here. And then you can ask God, I'm willing to do whatever you want. It doesn't work like that. Like that's us figuring out this is what I want. And I'm following the steps and I'm asking God to bless it. The better question is, God, why am I here? And if Jeremiah would've asked,

he would've said, 'cause I made you to be a prophet. And if Joseph would've asked, he's gonna say I made you a commander over the whole army and over all of Egypt. And if Stephen would've asked, he said, 'cause I'm gonna have you preach one really, really good message and get martyred. And if Solomon would've asked, he said, I'm gonna make you the wisest guy who's ever lived in the whole world. And I'm gonna use you to write scripture so that people can hear wisdom for all of the rest of the days. I mean, what am I here for? And then if you're letting God lead your life, he's taking you the way you need to go. God doesn't waste any experience. God doesn't waste any opportunity on all the things that you would say, the stinks is God doing it. 'Cause Joseph could've said, all I did was follow God and tell him the truth and now I'm a slave. I'm kinda done with God. Or now I'm sold as a slave and now I gotta work as a servant. I'm done with God. Or now I've risen up but I still am learning this new language and I'm not with any of our people. It doesn't matter where God takes you

or what he does as long as you're walking what it says at the end of the verse. I wish it would have said something about me like this. Now, Joseph was handsome, informed, and appearance. Now, you may ask, why put that in? When the biblical writers are writing about someone's personal appearance, it's because they're trying to tell you something that's going to make the story make sense, right? And they're usually things like he was left-handed because that's going to come into play. That's important. I mean, if I would have been in Scripture, I probably said he's bald or something like that, something that's a dominating characteristic of the person, right? So, Joseph, not only does he have God's favor on his life on the inside, the brother's good looking. Women, he's a hottie, right? These guys chiseled, he looks good, he's got it all going on. I mean, so on the inside and the outside, he's got everything, and the Bible wants you to know that. And here's why. Here's why, because when everything's going well, you need to see the lie behind the temptation. That's the first point I want to make. You have to see the lie behind the temptation. Notice this. Everything's going well for him, even though the circumstances to get there weren't going well. Now, he's in position where he's overseeing all a pot of first wealth, making all the strategic decisions, making all the decisions as to who needs to work and do whatever. Joseph's in charge of it all. He's handsome, he's good looking, and check it out. Verse 7, "It came about after these events that his master's wife," that's Potiphar's wife, "looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, 'lie with me.'" So, after all this is going on, after you know all the story about Joseph, here's the temptation. Potiphar's wife comes to him and says, "Hey, sleep with me. I think you're good looking. My husband's not around. Let's do this. What are you going to do?" Well, before you even respond, you have to know the lie behind the temptation, because what the enemy always does is the enemy lies and he shows you a sliver of what you can have, but he never shows you the whole picture of what you get. He shows you just enough to say, "This is what would be pleasurable," but he doesn't show you all the consequences to it. I was in a cadre one time with a guy. We went through this study and he had each one of us go home and study this story and write down everything that if you committed adultery in your life, what would it cost you? And I remember I pulled out a tablet and I'm reading through my Bible and I just started asking the Lord to show me, and I started writing all these things down, and just to write them down on paper was devastating, because I've met my wife. We know each other, and she's very forgiving, but I know my clothes would be in the front yard when I got home.

I know I'd be done with that. I know my kids would never look at me the same. I know I'd be done with ministry forever because I'm not preaching if I've committed adultery because it disqualifies you permanently. All those different things, and I don't have a job and I've got to go find something else I don't want to do, and now I've got to get right with the Lord. You start writing these things down, and it's not worth it. Sin is never worth it. Sin never brings you to where you think you need to go. Cutting corners never works. It only brings consequences you never want, didn't expect, and don't want to deal with. That's what sin does. So be aware of all the consequences. Be aware of what these things are going to cost you before you act. I mean, I think about it like this. Anybody ever seen any alcohol ads for sporting events? We're in church, and I don't know if I've ever seen that. Come on. Have you ever seen it? I mean, how do they advertise? They advertise with very attractive people wearing very little clothes. They're all best friends. They're all having the best time of their life. They're all wealthy. They all own yachts. It's awesome. Like, you never see them advertised with a bunch of dudes that have beer bellies hanging over their gut that are broke. You never see them go behind the scenes and see abuse in a family with a wife or with kids. You don't see any of the truth. You see a sliver, and you're like, that's cool. That's fun. It's not. It's not. I don't know anybody that consumes alcohol on a regular basis. And by the way, I'm not tea totally, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have a glass of wine. I'm not saying that. I don't know anybody that consumes to excess alcohol routinely that has anything good going on in their life. I don't want to follow them. You don't want to follow them. But what does TV say? No, that's awesome. I mean, have you ever noticed what is being advertised? You ever noticed what people try to sell you? Take time to see the lie behind the temptation. When God created the world, he told Adam and Eve, you can eat off any tree. That was his first command. I made this whole world for you. It's really good. And I'm a good God. And everything's flavorful. Everything's nutritious. Everything's good. It's all awesome. Just one request, Adam, don't eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat off that, you will surely die. Well, where does the temptation come from? The one thing they're not supposed to do. The one thing they shouldn't have. and it's really interesting because of Adam. to be, was Eve was dialoguing with the serpent. She would have been like, "Get away from him.

He would have been like, "Get away from him. I probably didn't do a good enough job telling you what God told you. God said, 'Don't eat or we die. I can't eat. You can't eat.'" And he's not holding out on us and he's not a bad God and he's actually good. And if you don't believe it, come with me to God. Satan, get out of here. If he would have done that, the Bible would be four chapters long because Genesis chapter four would have said, and they all lived happily ever after. But that's not what happens because they felt as if God was holding out on them and keeping them from knowing good and evil and being an authority and being like God. And I want that. That's the one thing I don't have. Be careful. Know how the enemy tempts you. He will always tempt you out of your place of poverty. Like the one thing you don't have, that's what he's going to try to show you that you need. If God's not giving it to you, you don't need it. You just don't need it. So you need to know the lie behind the temptation. Why do you need to know the lie? Because we have an enemy who is a liar. He's a liar. That's what he does. In John chapter eight, verse 44, the Bible spells out exactly who this liar is and what this liar looks like and what he does. He says, he was telling the Pharisees, "You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father."

Here's who your father is. He was a murderer from the beginning and he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. So every time the enemy opens his mouth, it's always a lie. It's not half truth. It's a lie. Every time the enemy's like, "You can have this, it's a lie." If God's not the one giving it to you, he's lying to you. And when does he stop lying when you meet Jesus? You're going to hear his lies all the time. You're not good enough. You're this. You're bad. You could have that. You should do this. Be jealous of them. Those are all lies. That's what he does. He's a liar. He hates you. He wants to destroy you. And how does he come? Like if this devil is so bad, like why do we do what he says? Like why are we following him? Here's why because the Bible tells us exactly why we follow him. In 2 Corinthians 11, he tells us what his nature is. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 14, he says, "No wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Is Satan an angel of light? No. Does he disguise himself as one? Yes. Does he go around masquerading with his lies saying, "If you believe this lie, it's going to go really well for you." Yes. Does he try to show you that going against God is going to be healthy for you? Yes. Does he try to show you how you're going to live longer, be more prosperous, and all that to follow him? Yes. Does he make it enticing? Yes. So even though we sit in church, and we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all of us know how devastating sin is, and we can say, "I hate sin. If you think about the sins you committed this week, I want to be really clear with you. You enjoy doing them." There was an allurement to it. There's nobody that's in sin that's like, "I hate it. If you hated it, you wouldn't do it. I mean, if you hate broccoli, you don't eat it. I mean, it doesn't sneak onto your plate." Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, we make every excuse, but the reason we do is because the enemy is enticing. He masquerades, although he's completely dark, and in him there is no light. He masquerades as an angel of light. He looks like what he's showing you so attractive, and you're missing out on all these things. You have to see the lie behind the temptation.

I mean, we live in a day in age where you can get things on your phone or on your email that are scams, like, "Hey, you've been charged this amount. If that's not true, call this number." I've learned the hard way that's a scam. I was in an airport one time out of state with a group from our church, and this person heard me talking on the phone, and all of a sudden he's like, "Who are you talking to?" I'm like, "I'm talking to Apple." He's like, "No, you're not." He goes, "They don't ask to do that, so hang up." So I hung up. All right? Because I got scammed. I mean, it's so easy because it looks so real, and it looks so good, and it looks so appealing, and it looks so appetizing, so they take the fruit and ate and gave it to one another. Amen? We don't want to do that. We want to be knowing what the lie is behind the temptation so we don't act. And then here's what we do. Second point is this. When you know the truth, don't linger. Act decisively with truth. Don't linger. Don't wait around. Don't take a second glance. When you know what's right, and you know sin is sin, and there's a consequence, act quickly. Notice verse 8. But he refused. She said, "Sleep with me. 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 has put all the There is no one greater in this house than I, and he is withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. Here's what he said. No, he goes, no, I'm not doing that. He goes, your husbands put me in charge of everything. I have more authority in this home than anybody. I'm not gonna touch you. You're the one that I can't touch. You're the only thing that's not available to me in all of this kingdom. Like, I'm not gonna do it. And then he goes on to say something else which I believe is even more powerful than him standing on the truth. He says this. He says, how then could I do this great evil and sin against God? What is he saying? My heart belongs to God. Here's what he's saying. I fear God. One way that you can avoid temptation and get over your sin is when you fear God. When you care more about what he thinks, when you recognize he's the one watching, when you recognize you're gonna give an account to him. Like David's, or I'm sorry.

Joseph said all the right things. Joseph said, how could I do this? But he goes on further. He's like, how could I sin against God? I mean, how could I sin against him? I'm not lingering. I'm not looking. I'm not debating with you. I'm not thinking about it. The answer's no now. It's always gonna be no because how could I do this to my master and how could I do it to God? He's not debating. He's not calling up a small group. He's not telling her, hey, your husband is looking a little old, maybe six months to a year. We can revisit this, but as long as he's alive, it's no. I mean, there's none of that. This is wrong, it's no. It's no right now, and I know it. Here's what I'm trying to make the point of, Christian, when you know something's wrong, it's still wrong five minutes from now, five years from now. It's wrong, so don't do it. Sometimes God shows us things from his word, and we're like, yeah, I kind of feel convicted about that, but I don't know that I'm ready to. It doesn't matter if you're ready to, just do it anyway by faith.

Don't linger. Don't call a prayer group to pray about it. Don't ask, what do you think? When you know, it's no, say no. When you know, it's sin, leave. It's that clear in scripture. And that's what Joseph was doing. And it's interesting because even after David sinned and he found himself in a place of repentance in Psalm 51, what is one of the things he prays? Lord, against you and only you have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Now, clearly he committed adultery with Bathsheba, but he was saying, I sinned against you. I didn't fear you. I wasn't thinking about what you wanted. And God, I'm repentant for the way I've treated you 'cause you gotta realize our sin is not first and foremost against another person. It's first and foremost against God who created the other person in this image. Amen? Our sin goes against God. So we care about what God thinks. So don't linger. Don't linger. It's like, if you're hiking a trail in Colorado and you see a rattlesnake and you hear the rattle, don't linger to hear it rattle anymore. I mean, you skedaddle, you get out of there.

You hear it rattle, that's like a warning. Like get going, get gone, flee, get out of here, right? You don't sit there and say, well, this is an interesting sound. 'Cause if you did, you'd have an interesting bite, right? But we have a tendency to linger when we're doing the right things. I know when I do a lengthier fast, I find myself knowing I'm not gonna eat, opening the refrigerator. Just to look at what's in there. Or if I'm sitting in a meal with my family, drinking in glass of water, I'll ask them questions about what they're eating. And that hamburger looks really good, was it prepared correctly? And how is that, I mean, I'm asking all these questions about the food 'cause I know I can't have any food. Don't linger. Get away, right? And we can make all these excuses in the world because sin has an enticement and an entanglement and the longer you hang around to make your decision, the more it reaches its hands around you and grabs you in the harder it is to get away, amen? But the truth is, this book will always point you in the right direction, just like a compass needle points north all the time. This always points you directly to God. If you have any questions at all about what he desires, just look here.

Amen? (audience applauds) And here's what I want you to see. You have to see the lie behind the temptation and not linger, but decisively with truth, which means this, you can't make that decision up in the moment. You can't. Like if you're not prepared for when the temptation comes, you'll succumb to the temptation. When I hear people tell me, hey, pray for me so I can read the Bible more, hey, pray for me so I pray more, all those kind of things. Here's when I know a true about the person, I'll pray for you to read your Bible more. I'll do all this. You don't even realize the warfare that you're in. I can't not read the Bible. I can't not pray. I can't not have Christian, I need all that because I know the temptation is so great in my life and I know I can't defeat it by myself and I need to have awareness as to how to defeat it so that when it comes, I'm ready to stand the test. Amen? So you can't just like wait until the test. You can't just turn 16 and be like, "I think I'll go get my driver's test. "I don't even know how to start the car, "but I'm sure I'll pass."

It doesn't work that way, right? We train, we practice so that you don't linger and you can act decisively with the truth. Let me give you a third one. Then you do this. You resist temptation relentlessly. This is not a one-time thing 'cause notice what happens here in verse 10. As she spoke to Joseph, how often? Day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. He wasn't anywhere near her. Every time she would come and say, "Hey, what about now? "What about now?" Day after day after day. Why? You have to be relentless with temptation 'cause it's coming day after day. You have an enemy that hates your soul. You have enticements coming in your life. And it doesn't mean that every moment of every day is filled with temptation. It doesn't mean that. I mean, when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, it says Satan left him and looked for a more opportune time. He's gonna show up later. I mean, there's times and seasons. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5a,

we have an adversary, the devil, that prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. My understanding of lions is they sleep more than they're awake. Some sleep 20 hours a day, they're awake four hours a day. It doesn't mean they're lions on a hunt every second of every day and they kill everything and it doesn't mean that. But they prowl around and while they're awake, they're looking and at just the right moment, that's when they pounce. That's what temptation looks like. So you need to be aware of it and there are seasons we go through where there's a ton of it. And then there's other seasons where you feel like, well, I think I'm doing pretty good and then boom, it comes in. Because the enemy knows just how to get you and he's tried and he's tried and he's tried and you're strong and all of a sudden he waits. So you get an argument with your spouse and then things that work don't do well and then you've got a financial crisis and then you've had three nights in a row, you haven't really slept well and then bam, here it comes. And you're tired and you're frustrated and you're angry and all these things are adding up.

He's like, now I got you, right? That's how it works. So we always need to be ready to do resistance to temptation. I mean, if you were a night watchman and on your watch on day three, the store got stolen from and they said, well, what happened? Well, I did a good job on the first two nights. I was just kind of busy last night. You probably wouldn't keep your job. I mean, we have to be on the alert all the time and the more aware you are of where you feel impoverished and where you don't have what you think you need, you need to be aware 'cause that's where the enemy will insert temptation in your life. If I just had a little more money, if I just was dating somebody, if I just was doing the right, I mean, it'd be so much better for me. When you start thinking that geography or circumstances will change your heart, beware 'cause it's a ripe opportunity for the devil to plop something into your lap. Amen? And so we need to be aware of how he works, right? It's just like a championship boxer. They look for weaknesses in their opponent. If there's a cut over the eye, they're gonna go after that even more. If they notice there's a weakness,

like they hurt their arm and they can't lift it, they're gonna go right after it. They're gonna pound where it hurts and the enemy has game foam on you. He watches, he knows, he knows just when to strike, he knows just what to tempt you with, he knows just what to do, but we are gonna be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his mind. That's why in Ephesians 6, it tells us how to put on all the full armor of God. And even if you don't remember all the six pieces, here's what I would say, when you wake up in the morning, just put on Christ and all six pieces come with him. Amen? The word of God, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, all those things, they come with the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord, amen? And resist it relentlessly. And then do this one. If you're gonna do those first three, then I would encourage you to take God's way of escape. Now notice this in verse 11 and 12, 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 was there inside. So how did that happen? How is it every day he's going to work and all the other men are working?

And this day he goes into work and nobody else is working. It's just an empty house. Who sent the men home? Bible doesn't tell us. Bible doesn't say that Potiphar's wife sent him home, but I speculate perhaps that's what happened. I mean, for some reason the guys that were there every day as she's approaching him in front of all these people he's saying, no, no, no, no, no. That day he goes there, there is nobody else. Here's the truth. You wanna have accountability in your life. You need to have accountability in your life. And accountability is not a man to arrive. Like you need an accountability partner. Do you wanna be accountability? Accountability comes from you when you say I have to have this in my life. I can't do what I do if I didn't have other people in my life that truly knew me. You can't be who God's called you to be if you don't have other people in your life who truly know you, right? That's what he's trying to make the point of. So as Joseph walks into the house that day, just asking, 'Let's sleep together,' she's forcefully taking him, because nobody else is there." She grabs him by the garment saying, "Ligh with me." Now, what's he going to do? What's he going to do?

He's got one option, and here's the option for all sexual immorality. You know what it is? Flea. Flea from sexual immorality. The girl says in 1 Corinthians 6, "All other sins a man commits, commits outside his body, but sexual immorality he commits against himself." Sexual immorality is the one sin you don't stand around and look around and be like, "Oh, maybe, maybe not. Don't linger. Don't glance. Don't look. Don't debate. Don't think you're strong." You flee. You run. You giddy up. You get out. You take off whatever you want to call it. You get away from it, and that's exactly what Joseph does, because notice what he does, and he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. Maybe it was an expensive garment. Maybe it was his favorite. Who knows? He didn't care. What he cared about was honoring the Lord. He didn't care what was left behind. He wanted to do it God's way. Sexual immorality in our culture, massive sin. We know this, because God created marriage as the covenant, the container for healthy sexuality between a male and a female till death to depart.

That's God's design, sexual fulfillment for procreation, for recreation. It's good. God created it good. It's awesome, right? Anything that falls shy of serving your spouse in a sexual relationship in the covenant of marriage is sin. There's thousands of ways we can talk about that, but anything that doesn't end up with God honoring one another in the covenant of marriage falls short of the glory of God, and everything in this world tells you, "No, it's not. You can do whatever you want." No, you're not your own. You're bought with a price, therefore honor God with your body. Last week, I went after the men because I always go after the men because this is a big deal for the men. Men can get this right. Everybody can, but I had somebody come and rebuke me and say, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, women deal with this too." I'm like, "I know they do. I know you women do too because we live in a culture that says, "Look at this and watch this and do all this stuff." So it's not just for men. What I'm saying, sexual immorality will kill your life. It wounds you on the inside, not just the outsides, not just something you've done or something that's been done to you. It wounds your soul. So here's the truth and what you need to do. You need to take God's way of escape. He left the garment. He didn't stick around. It's really interesting when the devil tempted Jesus, was he relentless at three different

times, and immediately Jesus starts quoting Deuteronomy. He starts quoting the Scriptures like, "We can do this all day." Now Jesus is God's one and only son, so it's a little bit different. And he's standing firm. It's not a sexual temptation. It's a word encounter. He's like, "Well, the word says this," and Jesus is like, "I wrote it. Here's what it says." Like how long are we going to do this? And sometimes we're called to stand firm and speak truth and resist the devil and he'll flee from you, right? Other times we're called to flee and God will give you the moment for what to do. Here's the truth. Here's what I want you to see. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, this should give you a lot of hope. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 says this, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man," okay? Whatever temptation you're experiencing, you're not the first person to ever have experienced that temptation. Like, here's what the devil will tell you. You're the only one that struggles with this, nobody else deals with this. Here's the reality. 500 other people at Brave are struggling with it right now at the same time that you are. Nothing that you're struggling with isn't something that's common. It's so ordinary. The devil will get you to believe that whatever your struggles are are the ones nobody will understand, nobody can handle those, but there's hundreds of others that are dealing with the same thing. I remember one time I didn't know any better because I was 24 years old and I led a youth group and we were talking about confessing your sins, one to another and praying for

one another and God will bring you healing. And I didn't know any better. We had like 60 kids at the time and I said, "So tonight, here's what we're going to do. Whoever wants to start, just come up and confess the sin and temptation that you're dealing with in your life and will pray for you." And it was like this. Nobody moved. And I just stood there and waited because I didn't know any better and sure enough, somebody came up, started cheering, "You know me, but I hate my brother." His brother was sitting right there and he's like, "And I hate that I hate you, but I totally hate you and I wish I didn't hate you anymore." And I said this, I said, "How many here are dealing with something with their siblings if you are to stand up and like three-fourths of the room stood up?" And then we prayed for him. Well, then the floodgates opened and then everybody was sharing. By the time we got done, it was like, "Oh, we're all dealing with all the same things." So this morning, I'm just kidding. (audience laughs) I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. I do think it's important that you have a few people in your life you can share those things with. I do, I really, really do. And here's what he's doing. He's taking God's way of escape. What's his way of escape? His way of escape right now is finding the nearest exit and running towards it. Leave your garment, leave whatever. You don't need to talk about it. You don't need to ask, just get gone, right?

And that's exactly what he was doing. I've heard that firefighters are trained when they're in a situation where it's hopeless, just leave your equipment and get out. More important that your life is saved, amen? So take God's way of escape. And here's the comfortable thing. You're only dealing with that which is common to man. And God is what? He's faithful. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. Whatever you're being tempted with, God's faithful and he won't tempt you beyond what you're able to handle. But with the temptation, we'll provide the way of escape. So as the temptation comes, God's also saying, if you look to me, I'll provide the way of escape. This is just building your character. I'm with you. So that you will be able to endure it. Therefore my beloved flee from my Dollar Tree, right? There's always a way out. There's no, the devil made me do it. I had to do it. I was just stuck. I was-- it's always our own personal-- it's always when I sin, it's my fault. I chose to sin. When you sin, it's your fault. You chose to sin.

But you didn't have to, because even if you go rewind the game film, if you would have done the things we're talking about and did the things God's way and named the sin and knew the consequence and immediately resisted it and ran away and all those things, and you wouldn't be in it, right? And here's the truth. All of us have experienced this. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one person here that would say, I have no idea what you're talking about. That's never happened to me. Every single one of us has fallen to that. The question is, how do you stop from continuing to fall into that? And by that, when you resist temptation, it means you've got to make some choices. Let me just be real candid with you. So if you're anorexic or bulimic, don't have a scale. Don't look at images in a magazine of all these girls that are doing this. Don't look at design and all this fashion stuff. Don't keep the secret so that nobody else knows. Tell them I have an identity problem and I need to get healing. If you're an alcoholic, don't go where they serve alcohol. Some of you, that means don't hang out with the friends you're currently hanging out with that drink it with you. I mean, if you really want out of your sin, there's going to have to be some choices

that you make that aren't comfortable, that you don't like, that other people may not like, that you make for the sake of living holy before the Lord. I mean, if you're greedy, then quit looking at your bank account all the time and telling the Lord what you need. Be more generous. Like whatever you struggle with, God will tell you, hey, get away from this, move this way, get out of this relationship, do these things. Because if you do it in God's way, there's joy and peace. Even if in the moment, it doesn't seem like life is going the way I thought it should go. If you do it God's way, it will always go the way God wants it to go. You don't know every reason that you were created. I don't know every reason I was created. That's American stuff. We're going to figure out my purpose and my mission. I'm going to do everything every day from, that's garbage. The truth is God created you and formed you and fashioned you in his image. He desired you to repent and trust in Jesus. And now that you trust in Jesus, he's got a purpose and plan for his life that he's going to unfold one day at a time. And you won't even know the impact you have until you meet him face to face. And the only thing that matters this whole time is that you've been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ

frequently. Amen, that's it. (congregation applauding) That's it. So you take God's way of escape. So let me ask this question. Did Joseph do the right thing here? All right, really loud. I want to hear everybody. Did Joseph do the right thing here? Yeah, he totally did the right thing here. But this is why I want to bring up this final point. You have to leave the outcome to God. 'Cause Joseph did everything that the Lord wanted him to do and yet it's not going to go well for him. Notice verse 13, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called the men of her household and said to them, which is interesting that she knew where the men were. There were no men there. And all of a sudden when this happened, she called them all in. That's my context. I want to conclude a thing she probably told him to leave in the first place. And she says, see, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us. He came in to lie with me and I screamed. Total lie.

beside me and fled and went outside, lie, that never happened. So then she waits, so she left his garment beside her until her master came home and in verse 17 and 18 she's going to lie again. Then she spoke to him to potter for her husband with these words, "The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came in to make sport of me, and as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside." Now, Joseph did the right thing. She's lying about him. So what's going to happen? Won't potter for a call, Joseph, in and say, "What really happened? And let's wave the evidence here and let's see what happened and how come the men weren't here and who sent you guys out? Let's figure out what's going on." Isn't that what happens when you follow God and have the favor of the Lord on your life? That's what I would say. God, I did it your way. I did everything you wanted. So here's what you're going to get. Now, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him saying, "This is what your slave did to me." His anger burned. So he's enraged. So Joseph's master took him and put him in the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail. So he did exactly what God wanted him to. And guess what? He's gone from being slave to leader, and now, by doing what God wants, he gets to go to jail. And his right smack dab in the center of everything God is destined for his life. I mean, this could probably be the time where Joseph would be like, "All right, enough. I've done this God thing long enough. My brothers sold me into slavery. They told my dad that I was dead. I've been sold as a slave. I'm under a pot of fur. I do everything he wants me to do. And what do I get for that? Jail time? God, I'm done with you. That's not what he says, because he's not verse 21. "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer." Does that sound familiar? No matter where you go, Joe, you're going to have favor because you're mine. And you're looking to me and you belong to me. So whether you get sold to the Ishmaelites or to pot of fur or you end up in jail, anywhere you go, if you follow me, you'll have my favor. And notice this, does this sound familiar? The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge. All the prisoners who were in the jail so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. So now he goes to prison and the captain

of the guards like, "Go ahead, you just run the whole prison." Whatever you say goes, you're in charge of the prison. What was God doing? God was building Joseph to say, "You can trust me in slavery. You can trust me in strategy. You can even trust me in prison because I'm with you and I'm preparing you." And you don't know this yet, but I'm preparing you because one day you're going to be second in command in all of Egypt and save the entire nation of Egypt and Israel from a famine. And you're going to feed your family and your brothers who have treated you bad. And what they intended for evil, he's going to say God meant for good. Amen. So you ask, what's the benefit of not giving in to temptation? You get the favor of God on your life. And one touch of the favor of God is more important than all the education and all the money you can ever make. One touch. And that's what you get. Instead of hitting the easy button and saying, "Okay, I'm asking for forgiveness." God will extend it, but you don't get to walk in the favor of God. That's what you miss out on. And here's the beauty of the gospel. Can I tell you the beauty of the gospel? Especially for those who are sitting here. Well, I blew it. I wish I would have known that at 15. I would have lived totally different. Hey, you can start living totally different today because the cross of Jesus Christ is willing to forgive all your sins and give you a fresh start. Amen. That's the beauty of the gospel. And that's why I want you to know your exit. Not just so that like, well, I go to brave. We don't sin there. Well, we do. I want you to have the favor of God on your life and everything that you do. I want you to experience His presence and that when you go into places where you're like, this is not what I thought. This is not where I thought I'd be. This is going a different way than I thought it was going to be. All those different things, but I know the Lord's with me. And if I know the Lord's with me, then I still have purpose and I still have hope and I still have joy. And I'm going to continue to seek Him every day of my life. Listen, you control your obedience. God always controls the outcome. Too many of us are living with the outcome in mind. God, I want to do this. I want to be here. I want to make this. I want to do that. I want to go here. I want to do this. And Lord, bless me. That's not Christian. That's paganism. It's idolatry. Christianity is Lord, you're in charge of every single part of my life and today I just want to be faithful and I want to serve you in everything that I have with every resource that I have for your glory. What does that look like for me today? And

if you give me breath tomorrow, I want to do the same thing tomorrow. And you put, you stack a bunch of days together like that and your purpose will start unfolding. I just promise you, obedience will cost you something, but compromise will always cost you more. It will always cost you more. I mean, Joseph lost his coat, his reputation, even his freedom. He was thrown in jail, but he never ever lost the presence of God. I mean, and Jesus showed us how to do this with a devil. He saw the lie behind every temptation of the devil. He didn't linger. He acted decisively and spoke. He resisted temptation relentlessly, he stood and took God's way of escape, and he left the whole outcome to God. And what was the second person of eternity, the God-man Jesus Christ required to do? Go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. Not his will, but the Father's will, and praise God he did the Father's will. Amen. Friends, I'm here to tell you the devil will lie to you every single day of your life. He's going to tell you you're the only person that's living righteously. Much like Elijah was saying, "There's nobody else that's not bound their need to bail. I'm the only one." And God said, "There's 7,000 more that heaven bound their need that still love me." The devil will lie to you. Listen, young people. The devil will lie to you, say, "You're the only virgin left." Why not give? You're the only one left. Listen, I talked to guys in our congregation at 30, 40, 50 years old that have saved themselves for their wives, that have asked them, asked me this question, "Why should I save myself any longer?"

You're the favor of God on your life. Amen. You do. The devil will always lie to you and tell you you're the only one that's doing it God's way, and you're never the only one that's doing it God's way, because he wants you to join the crowd. But the road with Jesus is the narrow road, it's the narrow gate, it's the narrow way. It always feels like you're going alone sometimes, but if you do it God's way, you can experience his favor on this side of heaven. I'm not teaching prosperity gospel, like you give God your money, he's going to give you more. You give God your life, he's going to give you more, that's not what I'm saying. You may give God everything you have and you may go to prison. You may give God everything you have and relationships may break. You may give God everything you have and go through a massive trial and health that you never ever thought you, that can happen, but here's what I know. When you go through all those things, you'll be going through it with the Lord and he will not only be a blessing to you, he'll be a blessing to those around you. So, know your exit, know how he tempts you and know the way out and may God's favor be upon you. Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all glory, honor and praise for who you are and Lord, we ask as we close this service today and sing about the fact that all of our honor and praise is to go directly to you. May you be pleased with us, Lord, for those here who have never given their lives to Christ may they confess you as their personal Lord and Savior today and Lord, for those of us who know you, may we walk away from the temptation, may we flee temptation, may we stand firm on your word and Lord, may your favor go with us everywhere we go. We give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise in Jesus' name, amen and amen.

Who you have got praise for his word? [MUSIC PLAYING]