A pastor feel tells a story of a pastor friend who went out of town to preach. He gets into the town where he is preaching on that evening. Goes to the hotel standing in line to check in. The young lady walks up behind him, says, are you checking in? He looks at her and says, yes I am. She says, oh, I'm checking in too. Our plane was, our flight was cancelled and the airline put us up in this hotel for the evening. Why are you here? She says, well, I have to preach in the morning over at the chapel. And she says, oh, would you like to get your grooms on tonight? Before you have to do your thing in the morning. He looks at her and says, young lady, that will not be necessary. She looked at him with a smile and said, oh, I was just kidding. I wasn't kidding. Beloved, when people hear that, some of you hear that. And thinking that at that time, it might have been a good idea to talk to that lady about the gospel. It might have been a good idea to put on your vandalistic hat. And tell her, why don't we have a drink and go over the four spiritual walks? Oh, better yet, why don't you come up to my room and we can go over the Roman road? Let's Beloved, there are times. And that would work. That the best thing and the most prudent thing to do is to sleep. To stop all conversations and the most prudent and best thing to do is to run. This is what we see in our text this morning, is it not? This is what we see with Joseph. All the conversations need to stop and the best thing to do in the midst of that battle. The Bible tells us, again and again, shows us that we are to make sure that we are not ignorant of the wilds and the beings and the plot and the plans of the devil. See that? Thank Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. In fact, Beloved, I believe that it is the call of the preaching to prepare you for the battle that is waging over your mind and your heart. The reason why we get up here morning after Sunday, because Beloved, there are waging and they are raging around. We know there are waging in Afghanistan and Syria and Darfur and Somalia and various parts of the world. We know that you would be aware, beloved, that the greatest war that is raging this morning is raging right here in this battle for your heart and for your mind. It is the battle for the Word of God that is preached for. Every time the Word of God is preached, there is a battle. Every time the Word of God is read, there is a battle. Every time the Christian seeks to live and faithfully proclaim Christ, there is a battle, as a war that will rage. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the preacher to understand that if the trumpet is unclear, sound. So let me be clear this morning. That is real. Not only is he real, but he has forces and he wars against God. And he wars against God agenda. And he wars against God people. And his strategies are consistent and the reason they are consistent is because they are effective. He is his strategy. His strategy is in the beginning. He has used it all the time and he is still using them today. And the reason they are consistent is because they are effective. And if you are not doing all, and if you are not prepared, will fall victim. You hear what I said? If you are not doing all, and if you are not rightly prepared, you will fall victim.
Jesus was tempted when Satan comes to tempt Jesus. And you and I read that I want you to not think that this is lightweight warfare. It is because Jesus is able, and he saw a death. And the enemy doesn't think that the battle was a lightweight thing. The Corinthians chapter took things for a moment's beloved. That these were just passions that these were real. On going in temptation. And when Joseph's beloved here is tempted, don't think for a moment that it was an easy battle. Because it was not. The reason why the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 4, that Jesus understands your temptation. And the reason he understands your temptation beloved is because he was tempted. And his temptation was as intense or not even more intense than yours. Cemptations are powerful too. You know what makes him so powerful? Beloved is a couple of things. One of the things that makes his temptation so powerful is the source of this temptation. The source of it. Cemptations come from an attractive place. You hear that? Cemptations come from an attractive place. Cemptations come with much decoration that are appealing to the senses. Cemptations with ugly blood. You wouldn't want it. Did you notice when Joseph's temptation came? It came from a seductress. She knew. She knew how to woo a young man. What it says in Proverbs chapter 7, verse 21. With much seductive speech, he persuades him. And with her smooth talk, she compels him. A smooth temptation is great because of the source that it comes from. And Shaddin said, come from a smooth, awful rate. A smooth, awful rate. Cemptations great not only because of the source that it comes from, beloved but temptations are great because of the promise that is. The promise of temptation. But temptation makes promises. Real, enticing promises. Promise immediate pleasure and immediate success and immediate prosperity. Someone has said that sin is in fun. I don't know what sin they've been watching. I don't know what sin they've been tempted with. Beloved people would do it. If it wasn't pleasing, people wouldn't fall for it. The Bible tells us, and Hebrews chapter 11, that there is a pleasure in. But the pleasure this morning, I hope you understand, is the pleasure of poisonizing. You ever have poisonizing? I have. You know the most pleasurable thing about poisonizing? It's scratching it. It's scratching it. To get the relief. But every time you scratch it, you know. You go pay for that. That is the pleasure of sinizing. Every time you scratch it, you know. But you don't realize that the game that Satan plays, he plays a game of pay for play. He invites you to play. But what he doesn't tell you is how much is going to cost. He lets you buy in and then he makes you pay. Someone has rightly said, when you play with Satan, you give you a bill. Great because of the source. The temptation is great because of this promises, but temptation is also great to love it because of the frequency of it. I mean, if it only came at me once, I can have no back. What you do understand, again, Satan passes our effective beloved. And he knows that if he just keeps coming and keeps coming and keeps coming sooner or later, he'll win. Not just once. But he keeps coming. He's coming. And when he comes, he often ramps up the intensity. Notice what the Bible says here about Joseph in verse 10, chapter 39. It says, and she spoke to Joseph day after day after day after day.
Joseph the first time, he refused the first time. And he told her why he couldn't do it. But would that be enough for her? No, beloved. She keeps coming. She keeps coming. She keeps coming because the strategy of the enemy is sooner or later to catch you at a weak moment when your defenses are down. And to make the Bible says here that Joseph tried to avoid it. He tried to avoid her. She made effort to be with him. He made efforts to stay out of her way. He made every effort he possibly could to limit any interaction with her. Sorry, how many? Only that was with me for him to serve as master. One day, the Bible says, Joseph is a servant, and he's got to go in the house to do his work. You know what she did to my mother? No doubt in my mother. She made sure that there was no other servant to her when he came back. And she launched her attack upon him. But I hope you understand that as much as you and I try, sometimes temptation is just unavoidable. But the Bible says, Jesus said in Luke 17, verse 1, that says to his disciples, temptation to sin, I'm sure to come. The woe unto the ones who who don't temptation to come. They are sure to come with Martin Luther, who said that you can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making a nest in your head. And here she is beloved, here is Oliver White. She's circling all around Joseph. She is circling all around him, and he wants to land for the kill. This is no longer just words but love as he swoops down. It goes from words to a touch. The Bible says here that she pulled him close to her and said, lie with me before she was just using enticing words. Now she grabbed me. You need to understand at that moment the intensity now of the temptation. It has moved to another level of love. For now, it is not only that the enemy has engaged the ears, not only has the enemy engaged the eyes, but now the enemy is engaging the touch. This is that moment of love. This is great. There's no doubt in my mind. And that is how Satan wants it to be. For he wants the moment to be emotionally charged. He wants the moment to seem impulsive. He wants the moment to seem passionate. He wants the moment to seem undeniable. That's why I beloved. No more conversation. Joseph knows about this anymore. It's time to go. And you know what the enemy wants to do, the whole time wants to convince you, because that's his strategy. Everything that the enemy has been doing up to this point in his attack upon Joseph is to convince Joseph that his way of life. Because that's the strategy. That is what I want you to know this morning. That the enemy has a strategy. And his strategy is to try to convince you that what he's saying and what he's offering. And what he's doing is right. And so he tries to woo you in comments that his way is right. This is what he did with the evil in the garden. What did he do with the evil in the garden? Thought to convince Eve that what he was offering was better than what God was offering. It's what he did with Moses and Eve. Try to convince Moses that the glory and the riches and the power and the pleasure of Egypt was much more glorious than the glory and the pleasures and the power. This is what it is with Jesus on the mountain in Matthew chapter 3. When he showed Jesus all the kingdoms in the world and so Jesus, you can have it all if you were just bowed down and were trying to convince our Lord that the way to glory and the way to exaltation that Satan was offering is to be preferred than of over the father's ways to glory. And exaltation tries to convince Satan wants to convince you that the quick and easy road to pleasure and possessions is to be preferred to the way of God. So he says to you over and over again, you deserve this. You deserve this pleasure. You have to write to these possessions. It's all your mind. Wage over your heart and promises. Great things. Great pleasures. Great possessions. What he doesn't do, again, he doesn't reveal to you the price, until you've already bought it. The powerful wife tried over and over again to convince Joseph. Over and over again to convince Joseph that he could have her and there would be no repercussions. It would be all pleasure. It would be all glory. It would be all yours. And Joseph refused her fortfully and finally, beloved, you know what happened then? The second part of Satan's strategy takes place. For what? Satan cannot convince. Satan seeks to kill. Then he will seek to kill. And don't be ignorant of his devices. In the pilgrim's progress, as he's read it, and I pray you have. You might recall when Christian meets up with Apollion, the Satan figure in the book. And Apollion is standing before Christian, standing in Christian's way. The first strategy that Apollion uses is what? He tries to convince Christian to go back. To come back with him. He tells Christian, I know that it hasn't been all that he wanted to be, but if you return with me, I will make sure now that the wages you receive will be better than anything you ever had before. Back with me now. Christian refuses Apollion. And when he finally refuses Apollion, what does Apollion do then? He stops trying to convince Christian. He says, beloved. If you return with me, then you prepare to die. For today I will spill your soul. That which he can't send in. He tries to kill. Don't you see that? He tries to kill Joseph. The God of the white doesn't have Joseph, she determined that nobody, including Potip, is a Satan scheme. Per say she does. She tries to kill his testimony. Notice that? She called all the other servants and after Joseph ran away and fled for his soul and his life. She calls all the other servants in, and she said to the other servant, look at this Hebrew. Notice what he has done. You see that? She calls him this Hebrew. Making sure that the testimony of Joseph is here called in the question. They all knew Joseph was different. He wasn't Egyptian. He didn't serve their God. He didn't live like they lived. He didn't speak the way they spoke. He didn't do the things they did. And it was all because of the God that he served. He was faithful to his God that made him a faithful servant that won him the adoration of the other. What does he do? A hypocrite. He's a phoenix. He's not worthy of your respect. He's not worthy of your adoration. He slanders him, beloved. And this is how you know that this is the work of Satan because the Bible tells us that Satan is a flanderer. So what he does, character is fascinating. He will seek to undermine your integrity. He will seek to undermine your testimony because his ultimate goal is not just to take your testimony. His ultimate goal is to take your life. And once she thought she had undermined his testimony, all that was left now was to wait for Potter because then she could get his life. She told the servants. All the servants could be, would look at Joseph with shame. But when she told Potter, she knew that Potter could take it life. So she does, beloved. She knew that Potter would be offended. And she knew that he would have to avenge her and she knew that the penalty would be, this is Satan's ultimate design and temptation. Yes, he is a thief according to John Jefferson in verse 11. He is an accuser and a slanderer according to Revelation 12 and verse 10. But ultimately by love that the enemy is a murderer. John chapter 8, in verse 44. He has been a murderer from the beginning. And when Potter forgets home, beloved, and he hears the words of his wife, the Bible says, that Potter was angry. Now it doesn't tell us exactly what he's angry about or who he's angry with. But my guess is that Potter is that angry with everybody. The whole situation thinks. Now we had no reason to be angry with Joseph. This is thinking it happens. I have no doubt in my mind that Potter would hope, I mean, Potter's wife would have hoped that Joseph would be healed. But Potter's things in the present, you know why? You know why? The same reason why a polyon couldn't kill Christ. The same reason why a polyon couldn't kill Christ and a Potter for the wife was not going to kill Joseph because God would not have it so. Because beloved, I don't care how bad it gets. Your life is in God's hands. I don't care how many plots and schemes against you. Your life is hidden with Christ. And if your life is hidden with Christ, Christ will not be conquered. Christian life, the mystery is this, beloved. Satan has enough chains and enough freedom to make life difficult. And I mean he can make it very difficult. He doesn't have enough freedom and he doesn't have enough chains to destroy him. He has enough power to fight a fierce fight but he doesn't have enough power to win. Did you hear what I said? He's got enough power to fight a fierce fight and he does. But always remember that he doesn't have enough power to win. He will not be tormented by no matter how many schemes and plans. Potter's wife puts together God's plan for Joseph will not be undermined. God's plan for you will not be tormented, beloved. Not by the sin of others against you. Not even by your own you understand, beloved, at some times because of the sin of others against you. And even our own sin, beloved, we suffer a lot. We find ourselves like Joseph Rowley's keys. Sometimes we even find ourselves right in the keys. And like Joseph we go down. I mean the love of you got on the fan. Joseph is just a manager of luxury. Joseph was just a stewardess. Joseph reigned over one of the most powerful homes in all of these. And everything that that home afforded anyone that it would be Joseph. And suddenly out of nowhere Joseph is cat down in the face. But here is the vein of Satan. The vein of Satan is that the Christian fall. But he gets up. He can't understand it. He can't figure it. The Christian fall. But he gets up. This in fact is the joy of the Christian life. If you would embrace it, beloved, when you fall, you fall into the hands of a provident God. When you fall, you fall into the hands of a loving God. Beloved, no one wants to go to prison. Okay, don't get it twisted. As they are marching him down into the prison. If you know what else he's not doing, for he knows if God was faithful and proud of the house, God can be faithful and perfect. We know my life is not in proud of the hands. Thank God my life is not even in proud of the wife's hands. My life is not in facing them. My life is in my hands of God. Sometimes, beloved, it is the sovereignty of God. When you're not in drink, a bitter cup. Oh, and the cup can be there. It can be the bitter pain of the loss. Sickness. The financial constraints. Rolling. The bitter cup. Yes. This was a bitter cup that the Lord gave Joseph. And beloved, it was no more bitter. And the one he gave to his own son. The Bible says that in Christ, that he would be crucified, peered into the cup of God's wrath. And there he saw your sin. And there he saw my sin. And there he saw all that it would take to redeem us from our sins, that he would take upon him the penalty of God's wrath that was due for us. And the awesomeness of it all. And he looked to his father and he said, Father, please, if it be a will, allow this cup to pass from me. Nobody. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And to you. Not in the face. Not in anyone of you. I can imagine that the moment he steps into that prison cell, is that you can hand things, Father. And to you, you are, I commit my sin. You know what happens when you commit your spirit, your life, and your soul into the father's hands? You fall down
You fall down The love of Gerald Joseph failed down You know what's gonna happen He's gonna get up Jesus went down But you know the Bible says He got up You and I In the hands of a sovereign dog And the trumpet hasn't been cleared yet You and I Are preparing ourselves You know that You ever find yourself falling down Just in the water You're gonna get up And Jesus went