The Door of Temptation | Doors | Pastor Brad Wilkinson

Could I do that against a God? See, I wonder if maybe in the moment, Joseph went back, and this is powerful. I wonder if he went back to how God had been with him through every season of his life. See, you have one of two options. What you've walked through, I'm not pretending that it hasn't been difficult, but you will have a choice. You can play the victim and blame God for what you walked through, or like Joseph did in this moment, my guess is, is he went back and started remembering how faithful God had been to him. I should've died in the pit, but I didn't. Oh, look, I got life again. Look how God has led me into Potiphar's house. How could I? Some of us need to actually care about what God thinks instead of what your neighbor thinks. We are in a series that I've been calling Doors. I know, creative, but Doors in the Bible represent a lot. Doors represent access, Doors represent relationships, Doors represents seasons, transitions. There's so many different things in the Word of God that Doors represent, and if you'll remember, back to week one, we looked at the door of protection, and we saw that the blood of the Lamb had to be applied to the doorpost of our lives, and you stay in the house all night.

Again, I'm not gonna re-preach the message, just kinda giving you the highlights, and the final plague would not affect you or your family, so we talked about the door of protection. Week two, we looked at the door of priority, and close to it is the door of distraction. They're both open 24-7 for business, but you have a decision every day which door you're gonna walk through, and here's kind of what we built our time around. This thought was that your spiritual adversary doesn't have to get you to hate God if he can just get you to put something in front of God, because everything that ensues, everything that follows is now chaotic, and your life is out of order, and when your life is out of order, you find yourself spinning and trying to figure out how come things aren't working out the way that they need to work out. So the door of priority, and then last week, if you were here, we looked at what we call the door of no return. Children of Israel were finally let go by Pharaoh after the 10th plague, but as we know from the story last week, as they are leaving and escaping, Pharaoh changes his mind just like he had done the nine previous times, and they get to the Red Sea, so the Red Sea is in front of them,

mountains are on either side of them, and behind them is Pharaoh in the full power of the Egyptian army. They're freaking out, trying to figure out, we know we're out, but what do we do now? Because in the natural, this doesn't look good for us, and so the Lord tells Moses, stretch forward your hand, and I'm gonna split the Red Sea wide open, and you're gonna walk across on dry ground, and that's exactly what happened. They walked across on dry ground. When they got to the other side, we know the Egyptian army was following them. The Lord told Moses, he said, listen, stretch your hand back over, and the water will return to its normal capacity. It does, so it sweeps up all the enemy that was chasing them, and here was kind of where we went last week. What if the Red Sea didn't close behind them just to wipe out the enemy that was chasing them? What if the Lord closed the Red Sea again as a reminder to the children of Israel of where you've come from and what I've brought you from, that there is no returning to an old way of living, an old mindset, an old way of talking. I've brought you through one door, and this is the door of no return. We're not going back to yesterday. And today, I wanna introduce you to another door,

but I wanna ask you a question as I do. Have you ever opened a door and immediately realized that it was a massive mistake? Me too. Take Tuesday night in the Wilkinson household, for example. We had just gotten home, literally like three minutes in the door. The doorbell rings, ding dong, something like that. The girls check the camera. Dad, it's so-and-so. I'm like, oh, cool, this is great. Let's just see what they're doing, this will be awesome. Being the man of the house, go to the door. That's what we do, we answer the door. Open the door, expecting to see somebody that I know. You are not who I thought you were supposed to be. And I had a lot of emotions going through my mind, I'm not gonna lie. I'd just gotten home, been a long day. I found out really quickly that who I thought this was, it was not, but instead, it was a pest control salesman. Now, I'm not throwing shade at door-to-door salesmen. You out there hustling, baby, you doing what you gotta do. I love that, all right? And what I'm about to tell you is not entirely this guy's fault. First service, I said it was about 60% his fault. Second service, I said it was about 70%. Third service, it's about 80%, his fault.

20%, well, I can't take the blame, so I don't know, you pick somebody else. It's not his fault that about two days prior, I had another pest control salesman knock on my door. And all the things are going through your mind, like this guy's telling me, he's giving me all he's got. And I'm not gonna lie, I don't mean this rude. He was annoying. That's not what I, I don't say that about every person that knocks. This guy was just his, the way he was going about what he was doing, I'm like, bro, this ain't working. We gotta do something else. But here's what I'm thinking, literally, as he's talking to me, this thought goes through my mind. Do we have like roaches marching up and down our driveway that are like, you gotta go to their house, bro. We are all in there, like two, in two days? This is the stuff I'm trying to take, he's now put a flyer in my hand. I'm holding the flyer. Like, I don't want you, get away, why? You're trying to pull me in. Here's the funny thing, though. When he opened the door, it wasn't who I thought it was, but when I saw who it was, I was like, bro, I know you. Your reputation precedes yourself because our community has a social media page.

And you, my brother, are all over it. You are all over it. So though I don't know you, I do know you. And I can't wait to see how this conversation goes. Because, again, no shame in what he's doing, it was the way he was doing it. Was literally telling people, if you don't buy, I don't eat. And again, I had read this, and he's talking to all, again, this is happening in the span of two minutes. All these things are going through my mind. I'm like, oh, he's gonna hit me with that line. He could tell me that. I'm standing there, I just got home, you were looking through binoculars, waiting for me to pull in the driveway, and you were gonna come right when I got home. You were waiting on me, and you're gonna hit me with that line that if I don't buy, you're not gonna eat. And in my mind, I'm going through what I'm gonna say if he hits me with that line. He did not hit me with the line, but if he would have hit me with that line, I was gonna bring him back to the book of Matthew in the words of Jesus. My good brother, Matthew chapter 17 says, but this kind does not come about except by prayer and fasting, and you are well on your way to a spiritual breakthrough, my friend.

There's nothing that a good fast hasn't hurt anybody. I would like to tell you that I would have been man enough to actually say that, I don't know. But here's the point. There's some doors that are meant to be open, and there's some doors that are meant to stay closed. To introduce you to our door on this Sunday, I wanna turn your attention to the book of Genesis, chapter 39. If you're wondering where Genesis is, start at the beginning. You won't flip very far, just flip to chapter 39. Genesis 39, starting with verse one, says this. Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered. And he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household. He entrusted to his care everything that he owned. Y'all, this is good story. I mean, Joseph's doing well. This is good. Verse five, from the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian

because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph, uh-oh, things are about to, this is where it gets spicy. Now Joseph was well-built. He'd been working out like me. I'm sorry, y'all. And he was handsome like you. And after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and she said, she makes one statement. She says, come to bed with me. Today, I wanna introduce to you a door that I'm calling the door of temptation. Now if we're honest, this is a door that needs no introduction. This is a door that you are probably well-acquainted with. Let me rephrase. You are more than likely well-acquainted with. Let me rephrase. You are well-acquainted with the door of temptation. And if you sit there and you say, nah. You are well-acquainted with the door of lying and you have walked through it. Because every single one of us, we have met the door of temptation. The door of temptation is interesting

because the door of, every door actually has a destination. But this door oftentimes is dressed up as a door beautiful, as a good opportunity, as an open door that you need to walk through. But some doors are just temptations dressed up like opportunities. And this is exactly what we see throughout Joseph's life. If you'll allow me for the next 20 minutes or so, I wanna walk through Joseph's life and hopefully, hopefully the word of God will teach us some things about the door of temptation. If you're taking notes, I want you to jot this down. The first thing is this, that the text shows us is that the enemy knows where to place the door. The enemy knows exactly where to put the door of temptation. And this statement makes so much more sense if you actually know what happened in Joseph's life because what I just read you was a very short snapshot of kind of his life in the palace. But if you know where Joseph came from, you know why that story makes so much sense because in chapter 37, we learn that Joseph's brothers were incredibly jealous of him for some of Joseph's doing, but also some of it was not his own doing. And the jealousy turns very quickly to hatred and his brothers, the people that were supposed to love him the most end up plotting to kill him, but they actually end up stripping him of the coat of many colors that their father had given him and they end up throwing him into a dry pit to die.

But instead of dying in this pit, he's actually sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. I just want you to hear what Joseph had to endure. I want you to hear kind of what Joseph would have gone through in his life when he was purchased by Potiphar, who we just read about in the text. And so knowing, again, I gave you a very brief version there of how Joseph got to the palace and Potiphar's house, if you will, but knowing just that, it's not hard to make the connection that because of what Joseph went through earlier in his life, that without question, he would have felt rejected at times. That because of what he walked through in the circumstances of his life, that Joseph would have felt lonely, that Joseph would have felt alone. Joseph would have felt betrayed, that Joseph would have felt forgotten. And guess what happens when you have a lot of those emotional traits at once? You know what you are? You're incredibly vulnerable. When you feel lonely, when you feel betrayed, when you feel rejected and forgotten, you are in a very vulnerable place. And I hope that this helps somebody in the room today. The enemy will often place the door of temptation in an area of your greatest pain.

Let that settle for a second. It's almost as if the enemy was like my pest control salesman buddy, who had his binoculars out waiting for my car to drive in the driveway, before he came and knocked on my door. It was almost as if the enemy was watching Joseph's life and his wounds, and he saw the places that he was most vulnerable, and he chose to put a door right next to the place of his greatest pain. Think about it for a second. Joseph wasn't tempted with money. He was tempted with attention, because it was the very thing that he was deprived of growing up. Isn't it interesting that the places that you feel vulnerable in your life seem to be the places where the enemy puts the door of temptation? The enemy knows where to put the door. Now, here's the second piece of that. The door of temptation is always a shortcut to what God promises. Love and acceptance and intimacy, and the desire isn't sinful. Every one of us have those desires. We want to be loved, we want to be cared for, we want to be known, we want this intimacy with another person.

We want, that's a desire that God put in us. We want to be loved, we want to be cared for, we want to be known, we want this intimacy with another person. We want, that's a desire that God put in us. The desire is not sinful, but walking through the door is where things change. Think about it for a second. I want you to see how different God is from the door of temptation. God promises Joseph that if you'll be with me, if you'll trust me, I've got a future in store for you. But instead, the door of temptation, or Potiphar's wife offered Joseph, what did he offer, what did she offer? Immediate gratification. That I know that you're dealing with loneliness, I know that you're vulnerable, I know that you feel betrayed, but listen, I can give you what you've been lacking. If you'll just walk through this door, all the things that you didn't have when you were growing up, I can give you in a moment. And this is what the door of temptation says. God says, wait. The door of temptation says, take it now. God says, trust me. The door of temptation says, trust your feelings. God says, process. Temptation says, shortcut.

This is how the door of temptation works. It offers in one moment what God intends to give you over a lifetime. She's offering intimacy, but how many of you can attest to the fact that intimacy isn't built over one night? True intimacy is built over a lifetime. Let me just tell you for a second. The door of temptation, while we're kinda in this vein, always looks sexy on the outside. Isn't it interesting that the door of temptation looks sexy on the outside, but it never advertises where the door leads? It appeals to your weakness and the moment that you are vulnerable, and it tries to get you when you are vulnerable because people that are willing to act on their emotions get themselves in trouble often. And so it preys on your moment of weakness trying to convince you that if you will just walk through this door. It will solve all the issues that you've been struggling. It will give you the joy that you've been looking for. It will give you peace for a moment. You'll be in a warm bed with somebody. And it'll be exactly what you're looking for. But it never shows you where the door leads. It doesn't show you that it could cost you what God has in store for you. The door of temptation never shows you

how it will split your family in half. The door of temptation never shows you what that addiction will do if you start. Where it leads. It looks beautiful. How many of you know, come on, don't be super spiritual on me today. How many of you know that sin is attractive at the beginning? Yeah. It's why so many of us fall for it time and time again. Because it's attractive for a moment until we find out the repercussions of what we've just done. Because it never gives you the backside of the billboard, if you will. It never tells you where it leads you. It preys on your moments of weakness. And it's always a shortcut. How many, come on, we know better than this too, don't we? Shortcuts never lead anywhere good. Ever. Try to take a shortcut. I don't, I'm trying to think of an example on the fly. I don't know. If you're a doctor in the house, try to take a shortcut. Performing surgery. Nah, we're gonna go this way. We can't, it doesn't work.

We know this, but yet we still fall for it time and time again. Why, because the enemy knows where to put the door. Don't fall for it because I can get it now, it's the best thing for me. Oftentimes, if you can get it now, pump the brakes. If there's a possibility for the future, you better make a really, really wise decision. Do I wanna walk, if it's promising immediate gratification, I'm telling you, that is a red flag of the enemy to prey on your emotions, to prey where you're vulnerable. So what I really like about Joseph is his response. Because temptation comes. Again, you can try to avoid temptation, but there's no way to fully avoid temptation. The door of temptation will always be there. The choice is yours whether you will walk through it or not. That's the difference. Because some of those thoughts are there, listen, you can't control what pops into your mind, but you can control how long it stays there. You can control what you give your attention to. And so Joseph's response is beautiful. Verse eight says this, it's very simple, but he refused. How many of you know that a good no can save you from a lot of heartache? No. No, I will not go there. No, I will not go there.

No, I will not do that. Some of us need no in our vocabulary. Some of y'all are gonna be walking through the, no! H-E-B, no! I will not buy those Oreos. Just preaching to me, fam. No. A good no would keep you. But see, we get so worried about what everybody thinks around us. If I say no, they're gonna think I'm. Yeah, but if you say yes, do you know what it's gonna cost you on the other side? But he refused, and he said this, with me in charge, he told her, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. Everything he owns, he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing for me except you, sweetheart, because you are his wife. I love this. How, then, could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? He doesn't even go to Potiphar. He talks about how Potiphar has entrusted him with everything, and man, he's given me a lot, and he's given me power and authority in his house, but when rubber meets the road, he said how in the world could I do that against a God?

See, I wonder if maybe in the moment, Joseph went back, and this is powerful, I wonder if he went back to how God had been with him through every season of his life. See, you have one of two options. What you've walked through, I'm not pretending that it hasn't been difficult, but you will have a choice. You can play the victim and blame God for what you walked through, or like Joseph did in this moment, my guess is is he went back and started remembering how faithful God had been to him. I should've died in the pit, but I didn't. Oh, look, I got life again. Look how God has led me into Potiphar's house. How could I, some of us need to actually care about what God thinks instead of what your neighbor thinks, instead of what your friend thinks. What if we started thinking, how would God feel about this? How would this grieve the heart of God if I walked through the door of temptation again? Now, watch this, this is, this is amazing because it goes to show you that none of us can hide from temptation. And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. It was there, but he said no. This is, I've been preaching this point for 15 years since I was a youth pastor, 15 years ago. And this is probably the greatest piece of wisdom

that I could give anybody in the room today. And it's the third point. The battle was won before the door was ever opened. You gotta know what you think about certain things. You gotta know what you value. You gotta know what you believe. You gotta know before the invitation is extended to you what you are gonna do in a moment like that. If you wait until the moment to decide, you're gonna walk through the door nine times, you're gonna walk through the door five times, you're gonna walk through the door six times, you're gonna walk through the door nine times out of 10. You gotta predetermine what you will and what you won't do. Can I talk to some teenagers and some young adults in the room today? I know your parents have told you this, but hear it sometimes, sometimes even though your parents say it, you take it better from somebody else. Anybody know that to be the case? Listen, you gotta know what you will and what you won't do before you get in a relationship. But it's 2026, I mean, the Bible is antiquated. If it's in here, I'm just telling you as a 43-year-old old man, do your best to live by this word, and I promise you it will not lead you astray. Let me tell you what will lead you astray every time, living to please your friends, living to please those in your school,

living to please your boyfriend or your girlfriend, that will lead you astray time and time again. By the way, there's nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned convictions. He's preaching old school today. Yeah, I'm about to plead the blood all over this place too. Amen. Come on, young people. By the way, this is not just for young people. Come on, adults. You gotta know what you will and what you won't look at when you open up your phone. You gotta know what conversations are appropriate and are not appropriate at work. Amen. Predetermine before you ever get to the door of temptation on what your response is gonna be, and stick to it. Stay, I don't care what they think. I don't care what they say. I don't care how how it looks to man to friends For those in the room today that you know that you walk through the door of temptation and you had to learn the hard way I Wonder I I Wonder if you would do me a favor. I know please don't don't everybody do this because of peer pressure don't But if that's you and you have had to learn the hard way Would you just throw your hand in the air? Now for those of you that are in the room. Look, I want you to look around not in judgment But I want what their hand represents is that there is a better way to do it Learn from our mistakes learn from our issues that we didn't Predetermined before the door was open and because we didn't know what we valued and what we believed we walked through the door and it led

to years of emotional issues It led to years of addiction like it if Abuse like substance abuse is in your family history. Don't pick up the bottle. It's not worth it Right if there's certain things that that have been passed down generation after generation Use some wisdom and say no. No, not today Satan I'm not gonna do it Here's the tough part Joseph did everything right and still ended up in prison Go read the rest of his story And this is where it's hard and this is where a lot of people quit Because it's easy to serve God when obedience pays immediately But what will you do when obedience cost you? I'm telling you obedience will always lead you Down the path that you want to go Even it's the up. It's funny how obedience and temptation are the opposite Because temptation looks sexy at the beginning but leads to destruction Obedience does not look sexy at the beginning but leads to life-giving Isn't it amazing how that works? Don't let the enemy fool you By what's flashy to the eye in the moment Have enough spiritual gumption and enough wisdom to know that if it's trying to catch my attention There's a reason because it's never as good as it's advertised The pit didn't stop Joseph his brothers didn't stop him Slavery didn't stop him prison didn't stop him the one of the greatest threats to what God wanted to do in Joseph's life The greatest threats to what God wanted to do in Joseph's life was hinging on one bad decision in a private room Some of you today the door of temptation has been cracked And because it's cracked the enemy has a foothold in your life And when you start saying no The enemy is going to have no choice but to remove his foot and then you can slam the door closed Now here's here's where it gets a little bit better. Here's where you and I need to be

I think today is the day. Let's let's see how this is going to work See if i'm smart enough to figure this out. Whoops stay closed door Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do this this is gonna be Oh, yeah today is going to be the day for many of you where you make the decision Oh, yeah this is This door has been open in my life and the enemy has had a foothold for too long in my life Today is the day That by the power of the blood of jesus That this baby is going to be padlocked And though it's going to be there And I know temptation will always be there. I will make a decision to not walk through this door once and for all So that's what we're gonna do today We're gonna chain it shut No, I don't have chain for you But we're gonna do that Would you stand with me all across the room? Our prayer partners are going to join me down front. As they're coming, if you're in the room today, and there's a door of temptation that you know that you've been walking through time and time again, if that's you, I want you to get that door in your mind. Here's what we're going to pray, that Lord right now, though I don't have physical chain in the spiritual realm, I am locking this door once and for all. By the power of the blood of Jesus, though this door will be there, because I can't do away with temptation, it's going to be locked and I'm never walking through it again.