Read: Genesis 39 (emphasis on 39:6b-13)
Joseph has been betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. Now in slavery the Lord has shown favor on him and helped him to find success even as a slave. He becomes second only to the master of the house, Potiphar. But the Lord is not the only one who showed Joseph favor. As he worked in the house of Potiphar, Potiphar's wife also became interested in Joseph. She continually tried to get him to sin, but he resisted. Finally when he was alone with her and tempted he ran away, resisting sin.
In doing so he became an example to us all on the how to resist sin rather than give into it. Through his story and principles taught in Scripture we can learn how to also resist sin rather than give into it.
First a definition of sin to understand what it is.
Sin: Deciding to live your life your way instead of God's way; it's saying you know better than God.
God has told us how we should live in a way that brings Him honor and means only good things for us. But in sinning we are saying that we know better than He does what is good for us.
How to overcome sin:
1) Decide that you will resist sin and live for Christ.
see: Joshua 24:14-15; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9
If we are going to resist sin we need to first make a decision on how we will deal with it before we are faced with temptation. It is nearly impossible to make a Godly decision against sin when faced with sin if we haven't decided before hand how to handle the temptation. We have to decide that we will serve Christ rather than ourselves.
2) Prepare accordingly
Study Scripture, get accountability partners, have quiet time alone with the Lord, fast, etc. All these activities help place our minds on Christ and help us to either learn about a life of holiness or help us to quiet our hearts and give us strength to resist sin. Jesus, when He was tempted spent forty days fasting in preparation. How could we not prepare if Christ Himself had to.
3) Call sin sin
see: Genesis 39: 9
I believe that what helped Joseph in resisting sin was that he decided before the temptation that what Potiphar's wife was asking him to do was sin. Then when faced with the temptation head on he did not try to justify it, he called it out as sin. He said that what she wanted to do was a sin against God. We need to do the same thing. When in the face of temptation we need to admit that its sin (even saying it outloud). "No, I'm gonna do [insert sin here], because it is sin, and will dishonor God who has saved me from my sin."
4) Run away from temptation
see: Genesis 39:12, 1 Corinthians 6:18-19; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:9-11; 2 Timothy 2:22
The biggest mistake we can make in sinning is thinking we are strong enough to face temptation and logic our way out of it. We can't do it. I know I can't. When face with temptation we need to run away. Just go! Don't stand around. Don't debate, get yourself away from the temptation. Just like Joseph did. So when you face sin- RUN! RUN! RUN! Are your friends gossipping and you feel yourself wanting to join them? Walk away! Fighting with your sister? Walk away. Watching bad stuff on tv? Turn off the tv and go do something else with your time. Just run away!
this week we will talk about how the 5 Pillars of the JHC can help us in resisting sin.
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