Genesis 39:9-12 There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back any thing from me but you, because you are his wife… I. THINE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MIGHT HAVE MADE IT EASY FOR HIM TO SUCCUMB TO THE TEMPTATION. 1. He was young. 2. He was away from home. Young men, you may escape the eye of an earthly parent, but you cannot escape the eye of God (Psalm 139:7-12). 3. Joseph might have pleaded that the consequences of his sin would be favour and advancement, while the consequences of his resistance would be, in all likelihood, irretrievable disgrace. II. CONSIDER THE WAY IN WHICH JOSEPH, INSTEAD OF YIELDING TO THE PRESSURE OF THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, MET AND OVERCAME THE TEMPTATION WHICH ASSAILED HIM. Did not allow his youth, or distance from home, or possible consequences, to blind him to the true nature of the proposal which was made to him. Did not beat about the bush and endeavour to sophisticate himself into the belief that wrong was right. Did not try to mitigate the evil by talking about sin, as if it were merely a folly, or a pardonable indiscretion. How then did he fortify himself against the enticement to evil? 1. By calling things by their right names. He had not learned to say that bitter was sweet, or darkness light. He had not so lived as to bedim or distort his spiritual vision. And so he blurted out the truth at once, and called the act to which he was invited, "This great wickedness." There is no more mischievous maxim than that which finds expression in the saying of Burke: "Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness." It is when "Satan is transformed into an angel of light," that his power is most deadly. He who has learned to call the sin to which he is tempted "This great wickedness," has already won half the battle. 2. By remembering that all wrong-doing is sin against God. It may be sin against self also, and sin against our fellows, but this it most assuredly is — sin against God. The faith which utters itself in these words was the source at once of the insight which enabled Joseph to perceive the true nature of the temptation, and of the strength in which he was able to overcome it. A man who has cultivated the habit of referring everything to God is not easily deceived by the appearance of things. He lives and walks in the light of truth. He is able to bring all things to the one test — is it or is it not pleasing to God? This, the one adequate motive of a true life. (J. R. Bailey.) Parallel Verses KJV: There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? |
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