Avoid Sexual Sin and the Appearance of It

Think with me here. Did Joseph have enough authority in that house to probably not have to be with her in that house by himself? You know what? I get the sense he was over all of the other slaves. And if there was a duty inside that house that could have been done by another… but even if he didn’t want to put another one of the slaves in that situation, he certainly was in a position where he probably could have required one of the other slaves at least to remain in that house with him. Because, look, he was not ignorant. This didn’t happen in one day. She was throwing herself at him day after day. You would have thought… and I would think that if you were put in a position of authority like he had… he had the ability to not be in the house, or he had the ability to require some of the other servants to never leave him alone with her. I believe he had it more in his power to have avoided that situation.

Now, maybe out of ignorance. But, look, how ignorant can you be when some woman is saying “lie with me”? That’s not even being discrete folks. That’s laying it all out on the table. You are not in the dark about what her intentions are. And if you fear doing that kind of sin against God… look, when you come to the New Testament… flee fornication! And I think if we’re honest, he did not flee fornication to the extent that he should have. Now I know when it came right down to it and she grabbed hold of him, he fled and he didn’t do it, but the fact is, he certainly gave cause for accusation to be brought against him.

I’ll tell you, as a pastor, and I think as a Christian man, as well, not just as a pastor, we need to be very careful, because I tell you what, there’s a devil out there looking to bring accusation against you. And even if you get into a situation where you flee and avoid the actual sin, if a wicked woman decides, young man, to bring a charge against you, even if it’s false, it can stick enough to tarnish your reputation so that you have to suffer the consequences of it just like he did. You need to be very careful. We need to be very, very careful.

I mean, allowing yourself to be alone… and I’ll tell you this… when we have a woman’s Grace House, and we’ve got women coming in off the streets that are then immersing themselves in the activities of this church, you men better be careful, because women that are coming in off the streets…I mean, not all of them, but many of them, they are prostitutes, they are chronic liars, they’re drug addicts. And I’m just saying it how it is. You know this. You don’t want to get in a position where one of them can bring an accusation because they needed a ride somewhere and you gave them one, without anybody else there. Don’t put yourself in the place Joseph did. You’re asking for trouble. And even if you are resolute enough…but I’ll tell you what, there are true Christians that do not have the resolve Joseph had. And probably if you knew how beautiful Potiphara was, you would know that there was more temptation in this whole thing than meets the eye.

And if you just assume that you’ve got the integrity and you’ve got the resolve to withstand the same way Joseph did… for you to automatically assume and presumptuously throw yourself into a position, you need to be very careful. You may find very quickly, you don’t have the strength that you think you have, and if you presume on the Lord, you may find He allows you to fall headfirst. We’re not told for no reason to flee fornication. You need to recognize. We need to be thinking what our situation’s not to be in. You know sometime we can feel like if we often take too drastic of an action, we’ll be regarded as legalistic. That’s crazy! Flee fornication! Why? Because it’s something you need to run from. And you need to be aware of your reputation. Having a reputation as a Christian man or a Christian woman is important. You can destroy your reputation just by an accusation. Even if there isn’t a foundation to it. If you allow yourself to be put in a situation where an accusation can be made, where it’s your word against hers… and you say, “Well why would a woman do that?”, for the same kind of reason that Potiphara did it. And you have the devil prowling about, to seek to devour people…

And can I tell you something? Men, you fall into sin, and you may think “Well, God can forgive it.”, and undoubtedly He can. But I’ll tell you this, if you think that you can play with sin and not bear the consequences of it for the rest of your life, you’re crazy. You can fall into such sin that will rule you out of certain ministry for the rest of your life. You can fall into certain sin where, even though God will forgive you, the church will forgive you, it is a blot on you for the rest of your life. You can fall into sin and you can still go on and be used like David was, but David bore the consequences of his sexual sin until his dying day. It cost him his children. It cost him dearly. Don’t think you can play with this fire and not get burned. It’ll burn you and leave scars for the rest of your life. And believe me, God has an arsenal of ways to burn you, if you decide that you think, even as a Christian, you can play with it.

You got to watch out. Look, there’s no substitute for purity. Don’t tarnish your reputation. I can tell you as a pastor that there are certain men in the church that unless God were to do something really supernatural, I will never let teach, preach, or be in any position of ministry, simply because of the sloppiness of sexual sin in their life. I will not do it. You say, “Never?”… probably never. Why? Because, there’s standards. Look, you can fall into sin and still be a Christian. You fall into it too much, fornicators and adulterers don’t inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. You better watch out. But there’s degrees you can fall into and still be forgiven, but it destroys your testimony. And all it takes is once. Be careful. I caution you. Be careful.