Temptations And Some Harsh Realities

Introduction

Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to Genesis chapter 39. Genesis chapter 39. I’d like to begin by considering together the first seven verses of that chapter. Genesis 39. 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. And the Lord was with Joseph so that he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him, and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant. And he made him overseer over all his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.

And it came about that from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. Thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge, and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and in appearance. And it came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, Lie with me.

But I tell you what, folks, every one of us have been in his shoes. Every one of us of accountable age has found ourselves faced with moments like this when we were confronted with the temptation to do something that we knew was against God’s will for us. Moments, perhaps, where there was great pressure on us from either outside sources or even perhaps from within our own heart to give in to that temptation, to yield to it, as the song we just sang talks about. And there isn’t a single one of us of accountable age who has not at some moment yielded to the pressure and given in to the temptation. Brethren, as we strive to live for Jesus Christ, we are engaged in an ongoing battle with temptation.

The lure, the pressure to do what is against the will of Christ. If you’ll turn over to Ephesians chapter 6, Paul would talk about this struggle in Ephesians 6, and starting in verse 10. He would allude to the great battle in which you and I are engaged as we strive to live for Christ. In Ephesians 6 and verse 10, he would say, Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil done and having, or in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.

The Bible describes us as being involved in a war against the temptation to sin. We can’t pull any punches about that, folks. It is a vicious daily struggle that we engage against a relentless enemy. In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, Peter would warn us to be sober of spirit and to be on alert. Your adversary, the devil, he says, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. There’s our enemy. Every day. He is in pursuit of us. If we are to be victorious in the battle against temptation, let me suggest to you this evening that there are some hard realities that we need to understand about this struggle we wage against it. Several of these things are illustrated in Genesis chapter 39 in this story of Joseph’s temptation with Potiphar’s wife.

1. Satan Will Prey Upon Our Vulnerabilities

And I want us to spend some time tonight thinking about that. I want us to take a closer look at what happened to Joseph on this occasion. And to notice specifically the tactics that the devil employed and what it teaches us about the nature of the battles with temptation that we wage today. And I want us to glean from Joseph’s victory things which will in turn help us to be victorious in our own struggles. Let me suggest to you tonight that I think Joseph’s story teaches us five harsh realities about temptation. That we would do well to ponder together and consider as we study his life. I’d like you to consider these five things with me this evening. The first harsh reality that we see about temptation in Joseph’s story is the fact that Satan, in this battle with temptation, will prey upon our vulnerabilities.

I think that’s clearly what he tries to do with Joseph in this temptation with Potiphar’s wife. He tries to prey upon Joseph’s vulnerabilities. Think about the circumstances in which Joseph finds himself as he’s confronted with this temptation from Potiphar’s wife. Why don’t you think about the situation that he was in? Think about the fact that number one, Joseph was a young man when he was forced to deal with this temptation. We can’t pinpoint his exact age, but we know that at the very least it was somewhere in some there, somewhere in the in his twenties. We know, for example, from Genesis 37 and verse 2 that he was 17 years old when all of this trouble started when he was pasturing flocks and his brothers sold him into slavery.

And later in Genesis 41 and verse 46, we know that he was 30 years old when he was taken out of prison and brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dream. So we know it’s in that time span. In fact, it may very well be that Joseph was still a teenager when he was put in this situation with Potiphar’s wife. He was dealing with this as a young man, perhaps a very young man. The second thing I want you to notice about Joseph’s predicament is that he was a young man who was a long way from home and on his own. You know, for all Joseph knew, he would never see his family again. And nobody from his home would ever know what he did in Egypt.

To the best of his knowledge, he was all alone in terms of his family. And would always be so.

I mean, when you grow up in a family where everybody hates you, except your father who unduly showers you with love. And then to have brothers who hate you so much that first they’re thinking about killing you, then they decide to sell you off as a slave. Many a young person. Because of tragic things that happened at home growing up, become bitter, angry young men and women. And as a result, reject the values and principles that were taught to them in their home. Joseph was a young man a long way from home, who had lived up to this point a disappointing life. And I would remind you, number four, that Joseph was a young man. Just like you and I, a human being. If we’re thinking that Joseph was kind, some kind of a spiritual giant who would be unaffected by a temptation like this, forget about it.

He would have been faced the same temptation to have been flattered by the interest of Potiphar’s wife that any young man would have faced. And he was a young man with the same passions that any young man would have. Let’s be blunt about this, folks. An Egyptian woman was offering herself to a young Hebrew servant. And we do Joseph a grave injustice to suggest that somehow it would have been easier for him to resist than it would be for any of us. Number five. Appreciate with me the fact that at least on one occasion, it appeared that Joseph could have consented to her desires, and no one ever would have found out. In verse 11 of chapter 39 of Genesis, it says, Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there inside.

One of the days when he was presented with this temptation, no one else was around. The house was empty. Perhaps Potiphar’s wife had created that opportunity. We don’t know, but that’s where he found himself. And he could have gone along with her request, who would have known. Except the two of them. Will you agree with me that Joseph found himself in a vulnerable situation? And will you also notice with me this evening that finding himself in that situation, Satan didn’t cut him a bit of slack? Listen, folks, we need to understand that when it comes to this battle with temptation, the devil’s not fair about all this. He didn’t look down at Joseph and said, My goodness, he’s a young man. He’s been through such a bad time.

And this is a really tempting situation. Well, it wouldn’t be fair to try to pressure him with this right now. If anything, he insult assaulted him all the more intensely. In fact, verse 10 seems to indicate that this wasn’t a one-time deal with Potiphar’s wife, but day after day after day, she was enticing. Folks, there’s no fairness with the devil about all this. When we’re vulnerable, he doesn’t back off. He attacks. Again, remember that Peter describes him in 1 Peter 5 and 8 as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Do you think if he perceives weakness in his prey, he’ll back off to be fair? Not at all. He’ll pursue all the more intensely. If he knows that I’m having a tough time in my life, if he knows I’m too busy, if he knows I’m struggling in my marriage, if he knows there’s discord in the congregation and that’s discouraged me, he’ll use it.

If he knows I’m wrestling with a weakness, if he knows that I’m struggling with an uncontrolled temper or with keeping my priorities straight, he’ll attack. It’s not fair about all this. What we need to understand is that to defeat him, we need to be careful that we don’t use our circumstances as an excuse for sin. Think about that. If we’re going to beat him, we need to be sure that we don’t use our circumstances as an excuse to do the wrong thing. You know, sometimes people stop coming to the services faithfully. And they’ll say, Well, you know, I just, I’ve just been discouraged lately. As though discouragement is an excuse for that sin. Listen, folks, that’s playing into his hand. What’s he doing? Preying upon our vulnerability.

And to excuse it by saying I’m having a tough time is just to give him the advantage over. Sometimes folks will excuse negligence in their service to God by saying, Well, you know, I’ve just been so busy. Listen. We’re not the only one who sees that. So does the devil. And he’ll use it. Think about the parable of the soul, the soils that Jesus told. How the third soil was the thorny ground with all the weeds. Satan sees we’re busy, he’ll try to put all kinds of stuff in our life that chokes out our ability to faithfully serve God. He’ll exploit us on that point and to excuse negligence by saying, Well, it’s just a tough time right now. Is to play into his Savior. It is interesting.

2. Satan Will Use Our Blessings to Curse Us

That in spite of all the adversity Joseph faced, he never used his circumstances as an excuse to do the wrong thing. He never used his situation in life to justify doing what wasn’t right. He never allowed the devil to use his vulnerabilities against him. And brethren, if we’re going to be victorious over temptation, we’ve got to do the same thing. Well, let me notice with you a second thing. Another hard reality about temptation that we can find in this story. And that is, secondly, Satan will use our blessings to curse us if we let him. I would submit to you that that is precisely the thing that he tried to do to Joseph. He tried to use the blessings that had come into his life as a means to curse him.

Think about that. What really opened the door of opportunity for Potiphar’s wife to entice Joseph. Was it not the success that Joseph had enjoyed in Potiphar’s house? Look back at Genesis 39 and verse 4. It said, so Joseph had found favor in his sight, in Potiphar’s sight, and had become his personal servant. Joseph had been blessed with the privilege of becoming Potiphar’s right hand man. And you can just kind of imagine what must have surely gone along with that position. If he’s his right hand man, his personal servant, he’s going to be around the house all the time. He was over all the things that were going on, so he’s in and out of the house involved in all the affairs of the house. In fact, I imagine that his responsibility may well have required him to interact with the master’s wife about certain household issues.

But you notice how Satan tried to catch the eye of the master’s wife, not at his desire. And gave her the opportunity to tempt him. There’s something more. Do you notice that little tidbit that was added at the end of verse 6 in chapter 39? Where it says, now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. We would say he was good looking. Handsome fellow. That’s a blessing. A blessing some of us don’t have to worry about. Joseph did. And Satan tried to use it to curse him. Folks, that’s not put in there as an interesting detail. It’s tied to the whole story. Part of what caught the attention of Potiphar’s wife was his good looking appearance. Is it wrong to be good looking? No. Can it be a problem that can curse us?

Yes. Satan tried to use it that way. I note that with you, folks, because we need to be warned. Satan will do the same thing and is successfully doing the same thing to people today. He’s trying to use what ought to be blessings to be a curse to us, and he will if we’ll let him. I think, for example, about the material prosperity that we enjoy in this country. You know, folks, we just have it better than any society of people has ever had. When you stop and think about it, not only do we have every human need abundantly supplied, but we have most of our desires and wants supplied as well. There is very little that you and I want that we don’t have. Someone says, David, I’d like to have a big boat.

Well, okay, there’s one thing. But not much more than that, is there?

But if we’re not careful, Satan will curse us with that. He’ll get us so focused and so consumed on having wealth and having more things that all of our energies and our resources will be spent up in the pursuit of that rather than having anything left for the kingdom of God. And he’ll curse us that one. If we let him. We’ve been blessed in this country with great technological advances. I’m just amazed in the short time that I’ve been preaching what we’ve been able to do with computer technology and what we’re able to do here at South Bumby with the television. Great possibilities for good with these technological advances. But you know what? He’s cursing us with them too. He’ll do that if we let him.

You know, we’ve been blessed here at South Bumby with a wonderful spiritual family. It’s nice to be able to come together with all these other people on a night like tonight and sing and worship God and to be part of a church where good stuff is going on and good things are happening. That’s a blessing. But I’m going to tell you something, folks, we better watch out because he’ll curse us with it if we’re not careful. He’ll get us so comfortable and so satisfied with things as they are that we’ll get lazy about God’s work. And curse us in that way. We need to be careful about that. Young people, it’s a blessing. To have athletic ability. Or to be a great musician. Or to be an intelligent student that makes good grades.

3. Temptation Must Be Refused

Ask my kids. I’m a believer in good grades. That’s a blessing. Just don’t let Satan curse you with it. Don’t let him convince you that the most important thing is being at the ball game. Or studying for that test. Or being there for the concert. That those things are more important than fulfilling your spiritual responsibilities to the Lord. Don’t let him curse you with your blessings. We need to be warned because Satan works in just that manner. That’s a hard reality of sin, folks. We need to appreciate it. Number three. This is probably one of the most revolutionary things you’ll ever hear in your whole life. You ready for this? Y’all know that’s not what’s coming because you know me. The third thing we really need to learn from this story is that temptation must be refused.

Isn’t that revolutionary?

But you know, that’s just the fact of it, folks. I love the way that Joseph responds to the advances of Potiphar’s wife. If you don’t get anything else from this sermon tonight, get the first three words of Genesis 39 and verse 8, and you’ll know what to do about temptation. When she said in verse 7, lie with me, the response of Joseph was, but he refused. When this young Hebrew slave was enticed by the master’s wife, he said no. I want you to know, folks, there’s no magical formulas for defeating temptation. When Satan lures us to do something wrong, that’s the answer. No. Now there’s more to it than that. Or I don’t suppose I’d make it a whole point in a sermon. There’s some things I want you to notice that are behind this refusal of Joseph.

First of all, I want you to notice with me tonight the manner of his refusal, how to do it. And there are a couple of things significant about that. First of all, I want you to notice that his response was immediate. When she said in verse 7, lie with me, verse 8, the next words are, he refused. There is no indication that he even for a moment gave thought to her offer. There wasn’t need to. There wasn’t any cause to stop and consider what she was proposing. It was wrong. The only right response was refusal. I tell you, folks, sometimes what gets us into trouble with temptation is we stop and think about it too long. And if you doubt, go back and read 2 Samuel chapter 11, when David was on the rooftop in Jerusalem and caught a glimpse of a woman bathing.

You know, if he’d have done what Joseph did, he’d have been alright. He just stopped and thought about it too long. And I tell you, folks, if we’ll get to turning over some temptation in our mind, if we’ll pause and we’ll kind of think about it long enough, it’s amazing what our minds can do to twist and turn and figure out a way to justify something wrong. When faced with something we know to be wrong, there’s only one right response. No. And anything else is a step in the wrong direction. But I want you to notice also with me tonight, secondly, the reason for his refusal. Joseph didn’t just say no, but he gave her the reasons why. He told her why he couldn’t do this thing.

And there are several things that I think are worthy of note. Look with me, starting again in verse 8. It says, But he refused and said to the master’s wife, Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all things that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? It seems to me that there is in those verses three things, three reasons for Joseph’s refusal. I’d like you to notice these with me. Number one, he refuses because to do this he said would in essence be a crime against his master.

He said, Potiphar hadn’t been anything but good to me.

How can I do this against him? Secondly, he refused because to do what she was suggesting would be a crime against their union. Did you catch that? Joseph said, There’s only one thing that’s been withheld from me in the whole house, and that’s you, and there’s a reason for that in verse 9. Because you are his wife. It is interesting that in this case, Joseph had more respect for her marriage vows. There did. He realized that she was Potiphar’s wife, and for that reason, he had no right to her. Oh, that people today would understand that marriage is sacred and adultery is a crime against. Joseph understood that. Third. There was even another issue that I think loomed greater than all of these. In the last part of verse 9, he says, How then could I do this great evil?

And look at those last four words. And sin against God. This wasn’t just about their marriage. And it wasn’t just about the good that Potiphar had shown to him. This was about God. You know, those four simple words, and sin against God are saying a mouthful. They demonstrate, first of all, Joseph’s recognition of God’s presence. He realized that even if nobody else was in the house, God was. And that God saw what was going on, and he would be aware of what they were doing. You know, I wonder. I wonder how much of our sin would be avoided, how much more successful we would be in our battle with temptation if we lived every day with a greater sense of God’s presence. That when we seem, we seem to believe that no one will know, and it seems we’re all from everybody else and think we can get away with it to know that God always knows, and whatever we do, we do in his presence.

Joseph knew that God was there and he was watching. He also knew that the thing he did would be displeasing to God. That he wouldn’t simply be offending Potiphar, he’d be offending God. And that mattered to him. That it would offend God mattered to Joseph. More important than his selfish concerns and desires was that he pleased God. And I tell you, folks, the battle with temptation in our lives will always be a losing proposition as long as we are living this life to please ourselves. When we’re only thinking about what we want and what will satisfy our desires, we’re in trouble. We need to defeat temptation by remembering that we’re not living for ourselves. But we’re living for our God. One of Satan’s tricks is to try to deceive us about sin’s nature.

With Joseph, he was not able to be victorious because Joseph saw sin for what it really was. He saw this temptations of temptation of Potiphar’s wife for the terrible, heinous crime that it was.

Remember what they were? Just say no. Remember that. In later years, she was kind of criticized for that, for being simplistic. But you know, folks, when you get the battle of temptation right down to its basic elements, that’s it. When faced with something that God doesn’t want me to do, when faced with the pressure of temptation, what’s the answer? Just say no. Verse 8 says, but he refused. And if we want to be victorious, there’s no magical formula. That’s it. We just have to say no. I’d like to stop there. You might want me to. But there’s a couple of points I think we need to think about. It’d be nice to tell you tonight that if we’ll just recognize how Satan prays on our vulnerabilities and make sure he doesn’t use our blessings to curse us and just say no, that’d be the end of the story, but but that’s not the end of Joseph’s story, isn’t it?

4. When We Do Right, Sometimes We Suffer

That’s just the first half of the chapter. A fourth thing that I want you to appreciate with me, and I know I’ve got a misspelling. I didn’t want to reprint the chart for one little word, so work with me.

Temptation and resist some vicious attack of the devil, that the heavens are going to open up and some angelic chorus is going to break out into song, and there’s going to be a line of people who line up and want to shake our hands and congratulate us for our noble stand for right. I’d love to tell you that’s what’s going to happen. But the truth is that’s probably not what’s going to happen. In fact, the truth is that often just the opposite happens: that when we resist temptation and we stand up and we do what’s right, sometimes we’re persecuted for that choice. If ever there were a guy who deserved a medal for doing the right thing, I’d make the case for Joseph in Genesis 39.

In his difficult circumstances, to resist the advances of Potiphar’s wife was indeed noble and courageous. And you know what he got for it? You know what his reward was? He went to jail as a rapist. Or at least an attempted rapist. You see, Potiphar’s wife, when she was rejected, her lust quickly turned to anger. And she accused Joseph to the household and to her husband of trying to rape her.

In prison.

But because he did the right thing, he suffered. He was falsely accused and cast into prison. And I just think we need to appreciate that that is one of the one of the hard realities about temptation. And one that we need to recognize. Because sometimes for you and I in our battles with temptation, the rewards of righteousness are not immediate. In fact, sometimes we’re going to suffer for it. Young people, I’d love to be able to tell you that if you’re at a party and someone starts passing around the bottle of booze and you say no, that all of your friends will line up and say, you know, that was really a courageous stand against peer pressure. Can I shake your hand? I’d like to be able to tell you that’s what’s going to happen.

But the truth is they’ll probably laugh at you and make fun of you, and you may be the object of their scorn because you didn’t go along with the crowd. And I’d love to be able to stand up here tonight and say to our young ladies that if you’ll resist the sexual advances of an aggressive boyfriend, that he’ll stop and say, Well, you know what? I really respect you for that. But the truth of the matter is that he might dump you and go find some young woman who doesn’t respect herself enough to resist his advances. And I’d love to say to all of us that if we’ll just be people of honesty and integrity at work, that our boss will appreciate that and we’ll just advance beyond our peers.

I’d like to be able to tell you that, but the truth of the matter is, if you insist on practicing honesty and being a person of integrity on your job, your boss may not like you. And you may lose your job. And you may not be advanced because you won’t be dishonest. I was talking to a Christian just a couple of weeks ago who said I just finally had to quit. He said there was so much pressure on me to go along with some of the dishonest things that they were doing, and I just resisted and resisted and resisted, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I just quit my job and found something else. I know that’s not fun to think about. But I said at the beginning, these are harsh realities.

5. Resisting Will Always Pay Off in the End

That often when we try to do the right thing, we suffer as a result. Someone says, Well, David, why do the right thing then? If I’m just going to suffer for standing up and resisting temptation, why not give in to it? Well, I suppose most basically, because that’s right. That’s the right thing to do. But there’s a little bit more in the story that I think finishes out that point. And that is to say that if you’ll if you’ll resist temptation and you’ll do the right thing, even though you may suffer at the moment, the last thing we need to say about the battle with temptation tonight is that resisting will always pay off in the end. And I think that’s true in Joseph’s story. Things did not go well for Joseph immediately when he stood against the temptation of Potiphar’s wife.

But Joseph knew that God was right and his way was right. And no matter what might happen at the moment, that that was the thing that he had to do. But I tell you, throughout all of his troubled days in Egypt, he always was a man of faith and character. He always stood and did the right thing, even in the most difficult of circumstances. And even though he suffered at the moment, in the end, it all worked out to his advantage. Joseph went on to become a great man in Egypt. We alluded to the fact at the very beginning of Sermon that ultimately he was released from prison and came and interpreted the dream of Pharaoh about a coming famine, was appointed to a position second only to Pharaoh in the land, prepared them from the famine, saved the land from famine, and in fact saved his own family from it.

He suffered at the moment. But reaped great rewards in the end. And I think the same is true in our lives. We may have to take some difficult and courageous stands at the moment for what is right, but over the long haul, we’ll be glad that we did. And when I talk about the long haul, folks, I’m not just talking about heaven. Although that is the ultimate extent of it. It will always pay off an eternity to have resisted temptation. But we don’t have to wait that long.

We’ll see, even in this life, how doing the right thing always turns out to our advantage. Young people, it may seem difficult at a moment to resist a friend’s temptation to use drugs or alcohol. And you may even be made fun of because you don’t go along with that. But I tell you, you stick with that. And you’ll be glad you did. In the years to come, as you see some of your friends that you grew up with and who messed around with that stuff, and as they start to have problems because they got hooked on the drugs, or they got hooked on the alcohol, and you see how that messed up their lives, and how it destroyed a bright future and all the trouble and hardship they have to endure as a result of those foolish choices, you’ll be able, when you get a little bit older, to look back and say, I’m sure glad I never messed with that stuff.

You ask some of the people who are a little older than you in this audience and who’ve seen it, and they’ll tell you the same thing. I’m sure glad that that’s a direction I didn’t go in my life. And I know young people, you’re going to face a lot of pressure to be sexually active. And it may be hard when it seems like that’s what all your friends are doing to resist that temptation. But if you’ll stand firm and you’ll do the right thing, it won’t take too long before you’ll really begin to see how good it was that you made that choice. When you see some of your young friends in high school get pregnant, and you see some people who contract sexually transmitted diseases, and the way that that can permanently alter the course of your life, the way that changes all the plans and all the trouble and hardship that people who get themselves in those situations have to endure.

When you see that, you’ll look back and say, I’m sure glad I never went down that road. And I tell you, there’s another moment in your life when you’ll be glad you did that. When you finally do, in accordance with the will of God, choose that one person to be your spouse. And you go into your wedding night to give yourself to your spouse for the first time, you’ll be able to look back and say, you know, it was a battle. But I’m glad I did the right thing. It may not always pay off at the moment. But in the long run it does. And I know all of us face a lot of pressure to overcommit ourselves, to be overcommitted to our jobs for the purpose of making money, to be overcommitted to the pursuit of things and possessions to keep up with the people around us.

There’s a lot of pressure in this culture to be focused on material things and to keep up with what’s going on around us. But if we’ll resist that temptation and stay focused on the things in life that matter most, we’ll be glad we did. We won’t be too far down the road before we’ll begin to be able to begin to look back in the lives of our children and in our marriage and see the fruit that results from spending time nurturing it rather than being overly committed to our jobs and we’ll say, I’m glad I made that choice. When we see children who are coming along and developing a spirituality and growing up to love God, we’ll be glad we weren’t spending all that time they needed at work.

And when other marriages around us begin to fall apart because of neglect, but we’ve nurtured ours. We’ve taken time for it. We’ll look back and say, I’m glad I made that choice. And when in years to come we see the lives of parents who neglected their children and whose children have gone astray, we’ll be able to look back and be glad we made that choice. In Galatians 6 and verse 9. Galatians 6 and 9, Paul says, and do not lose heart in doing good. For in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. That’s the sermon in a nutshell. Don’t get tired, folks. Don’t give up. Don’t grow weary in the battle to do what’s right. Even when we don’t seem to see the immediate results of doing what’s right, even when we don’t immediately see the rewards, even if it doesn’t seem to be paying off, and if we seem to be suffering because we’re doing the right thing, like Joseph, just keep persevering.

Conclusion

Because in the end, resisting the temptation to go against the will of God always reaps great reward. Take out your songbooks, if you will, please, and turn to the number that Ralph has selected as the invitation song.

And when you’ve done that, I would just ask you to ponder with me in closing this evening. Whether or not our great enemy, that roaring lion, the devil, is working on you tonight. Because it may be that there’s someone in this audience whose heart has been awakened even this night or sometime this day of a need to commit your life to serving Jesus Christ. Maybe someone who’s never become a Christian that needs to become one. Or maybe maybe someone who once made that commitment but hasn’t been true to it, has caved to the pressures and the temptation of the devil. And maybe this light, right? Your heart is being pricked about that. Don’t think that the tempter’s not here. Brethren, the devil’s not down in hell.

The devil is on earth. And he’s working against us. And this night, if your heart is telling you my life is not right and I need to do something about it, there’s a war being waged by him on the other side to find whatever he can to throw in your way. To prevent you from stepping out in that aisle and getting things right with your God. My request right now to you, and the request of the Lord to you, is don’t let him win. Don’t go out those doors tonight unprepared to meet your God. Defeat the devil. Make your life right with God. If you’re subject to his invitation, come right now as together we stand while we sing.