INTRODUCTION
God gives dreams… but He also
gives a path. And that path always includes purity. Joseph didn’t
stumble into God’s dream. He walked there; step by step, choice by choice,
conviction by conviction.
Genesis 39 shows us not only what
Joseph did, but how he did it.
And it gives us a pattern for following God in purity today.
Let’s walk through four steps
Joseph took; four steps every believer can take; to follow God faithfully in a
world filled with temptation.
A.
FIX YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST
Joseph knew who and whose he was.
“The Lord…” (Gen. 39:2, 3, 5)
Before Joseph ever faced
temptation, Scripture tells us three times:
“The Lord was with Joseph.” But
the emphasis here is not just presence… it is possession. Joseph
belonged to God. And purity always begins with knowing who you belong to.
We were bought with a price; the
precious blood of Jesus.
Redemption does not give us a license to sin; it gives us a reason to flee from
it.
When we consider how much God
hates sin; that He sent His Son to die for it; we cannot grin at sin… we cannot play with
sin… we cannot linger around the things that cost Christ His life.
Paul says we are to glorify God
in our bodies.
Food is a gift, but gluttony dishonors God.
Pleasure is a gift, but perversion destroys purity.
We admit we are sinners, but
confession is not the end; it is the beginning of repentance.
The Greek word for “confess” is homologeō;
to “say the same thing.” To call sin what God calls it.
Not “over‑eating,” but gluttony.
Not “cutting loose,” but drunkenness.
Not “a mistake,” but sin.
When we homologeō; say the
same thing about sin that God says; He is faithful and just to forgive and
cleanse.
Fix your identity in Christ. Be
homogenized with Christ.
GracePointe #1: Purity begins with identity, not effort.
When we know who we belong to, temptation loses the right to claim us.
B.
LOOK BEYOND THE MOMENT
Joseph looked at the long-term,
not the short-term.
“But he refused…” (Gen. 39:8)
Joseph didn’t just refuse
Potiphar’s wife; he remembered something.
He remembered God’s dreams for him.
He remembered the future God had promised.
Temptation always shrinks when
the future gets big.
Sin grows when eternity gets small.
Potiphar’s wife offered a moment.
God offered a lifetime.
Joseph chose the long view.
Temptation always hides the price
tag.
It shows the pleasure but hides the pain.
Joseph refused because he counted the cost.
GracePointe #2:
Temporary temptation shrinks when our view of eternity grows. We must see
beyond the moment to have strength in the moment.
Joseph created safeguards as
guardrails.
“he did not heed her… or even be with her” (Gen. 39:10)
Joseph didn’t just avoid the act;
he avoided the atmosphere.
He refused to be with her.
He understood that proximity is
often the first step toward compromise.
You don’t fall into sin from a distance.
You drift into it by degrees.
Boundaries are not legalism; they
are love for God, love for others, and love for your own soul.
Joseph also made a pre‑decision.
He didn’t wait until the heat of the moment to decide what he believed.
Boundaries are pre‑decisions that protect future obedience.
If you wait until the moment of
temptation, you’ve waited too long.
GracePointe #3:
Boundaries are signs of wisdom, not weakness. We don’t rise to our
intentions; we fall to the level of our boundaries.
Joseph did not negotiate; he
fled.
“he left his garment… fled and ran outside.” (Gen. 39:12)
Verse 11 gives us a detail we
often overlook:
“None of the men of the house was inside.”
That is not a throwaway line.
Scripture includes it for a reason.
Joseph should have fled the
moment he saw he was alone with her.
He knew her intentions.
He knew the pattern.
He knew the danger.
He should have escaped before the
temptation escalated.
And Scripture gives us a
principle that applies directly here:
1 Corinthians 10:12–14
“Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall…
God will provide a way of escape…
Therefore, flee…”
With every temptation, God
provides an exit.
But you must take it.
Delayed obedience is disobedience.
And when we delay, we begin to
treat grace the wrong way.
Let me give you an illustration.
A professor once assigned a term
paper. On the due date, several students weren’t ready and begged for grace.
The professor granted it, and they were amazed by his kindness.
A week later, they still weren’t
ready, and again he extended grace. They appreciated it.
Another week passed, and they
assumed he would extend grace again. But this time he didn’t. They were
shocked.
“That’s not fair!” they cried.
“Oh, you want justice?” he said.
“Then here is justice: an F for the first week, an F for the second week, an F
for the third week, and an F for this week.”
That is justice.
And that is what happens when we treat grace casually.
When we do not fix our identity
in Christ…
When we do not look beyond the moment…
When we do not establish boundaries…
When we do not escape immediately…
We move from amazing grace,
to appreciated grace,
to assumed grace,
to appalling grace.
GracePointe #4:
Delayed obedience is disobedience. The fastest way out of temptation is your
feet. When God provides the escape, take the exit.
CONCLUSION
Joseph didn’t arrive at God’s
dream by accident.
He walked there with integrity.
He walked there with conviction.
He walked there with purity.
And so can we.
Fix your identity.
Look beyond the moment.
Establish boundaries.
Escape immediately.
God’s dreams are worth it.
Your testimony is worth it.
Your future is worth it.
Christ is worth it.
