How NOT to Deal with Temptation
2 Samuel 11-12
1) ESCAPE, not EXCUSE
While God has provided an ESCAPE route, He has not given you an EXCUSE route!
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man;
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
but with the temptation will also make the way of escape,
that you may be able to bear it.
(NKJ)
Do not be fooled into thinking that no one else has ever encountered this before! One of the lies of Satan is to say to you:
“You poor thing! Surely no one else faces a battle like you are facing! Go ahead and give into it! You may lose the battle, but you’ll win the war in the end! God will surely EXCUSE you this time!”
There is a difference between ESCAPE and EXCUSE. And it’s HUGE!
To escape means that I get away unscathed! An excuse is simply a lie in the skin of a reason!
MY PROMISE FROM 1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken ME
except such as is common to man;
but God is faithful, who will not allow ME to be tempted beyond what I am able to handle,
but with the temptation GOD will also make
the way of escape,
that I may be able to bear it.
(NKJ)
2) WHATEVER IS PLANTED IN MY GARDEN WILL GROW!
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
(NIV)
We open ourselves up to temptation. He who desires to have a clean garden does not reserve a plot for weeds! If you know that being around someone who gossips could cause you to gossip, stay away from the gossiper! The gossiper tells you about someone, maybe even as a “prayer request”: “You know, we really need to pray for so-and-so. Did you know that…”, and then the gossiper goes into an hour long, blow by blow account of the problem, all the while using their speech simply to get you to agree with them about how bad this person is! Stay AWAY! Think about this for a moment: If they talk about someone else this way, what makes you think you won’t be the next victim?
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Chapter 1. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. It’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter 4. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter 5. I walk down another street.
Whatever is placed into the soil of your life will grow! Let me go one step further: Whatever is placed into the soil of your life will be placed into the soil of your kids and grandkids! Good or bad! Do you want your children to smoke? If you smoke they might! Do you want your children to drink? Let them see you drink! Do you want your children to go to hell? All we parents have to do is live like the devil here in front of them! Do you want your children to love God? Parents and grandparents, do you love God? Whatever is planted in your garden will grow and your children and grandchildren will inherit it from you!
MY PROMISE FROM Galatians 6:7-8
7 I WILL not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked.
I WILL reap what I sow.
8 IF I SOW to please
MY sinful nature,
from that nature I will reap destruction;
BUT IF I sow to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
(NIV)
3) IF IT LOOKS BAD, IT PROBABLY IS!
1 Thessalonians 5:22
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
(KJV)
In the account of Jesus’ temptation recorded in Matthew 4, you will note that Jesus did not engage Satan in a discussion about his enticing offers. He refused to ask Satan for more information about what he was tempting.
When tempted to satisfy His hunger after fasting for forty days and Satan pointed out the stones and suggested Jesus turn them into bread, Jesus did not ask Satan if he thought he should. He did not ask Satan if he thought they would taste good or if they would taste like dirt.
When tempted to prove God’s protection, Jesus did not say that Satan was quoting Scripture correctly, nor did He say that God would not protect Him. Jesus did not argue or enter into indepth discussion over whether or not it was God’s will to protect. Jesus simply said, IT IS WRITTEN – Don’t put God to the test!
When tempted to bow down and gain a quick fix to acceptance, Jesus did not question Satan’s ability to sway popular opinion. Jesus stayed focused and told the devil to scat!
By the way, although this is often pointed to as the “Temptation of Jesus”, as if it were the only time Jesus was tempted, don’t believe it! The Bible says that Jesus
“has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV). You can trust this: if Jesus combated temptation with Scripture and won, you can too!
MY PROMISE FROM 1 Thessalonians 5:22
22 I CAN Abstain from
all appearance of evil.
(KJV)
4) I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY!
James 1:13-15
13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,
he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(NIV)
God has sure been blamed for a lot of things! It’s as old as time. Adam blamed God for his failure: The woman YOU gave me, gave me the fruit. Have you noticed that it is always someone else’s fault? “I can’t help it! I was born this way! While there have been seeds planted in my life and I will be prone to allow them to grow, I am still a free moral agent and NOBODY can make me do what I do not want to do! Nothing outside of us is strong enough cause me to sin! Sin takes place when I agree to the temptation and follow it! I choose how my garden will grow, what I will allow to be left there.
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,
he is dragged away and enticed.
Temptation always follows the same process:
Step 1 – The bait is dropped.
Step 2 – The inner desire is attracted to the bait.
(By the way, you will never be tempted to do what you have no interest in doing. I have never been tempted to drink alcohol. I’m just not interested. Drinking alcohol does not appeal to me)
Step 3 – Sin occurs when we yield, when we bite the bait.
Step 4 – Sin results in tragic consequences: we end up hooked and fried.
MY PROMISE FROM James 1:13-15
13 When I AM tempted, I CANNOT say, "God is tempting me."
For God cannot be tempted by evil,
nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but I AM tempted when,
by MY own evil desire,
I AM dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown,
gives birth to death.
(NIV)
5) GOD AND SATAN HAVE THIS IN COMMON:
THEY BOTH LOVE TO HEAR YOU SAY “YES”!
James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
(NIV)
MY PROMISE FROM James 4:7
7 I WILL Submit MYSELF to God.
I WILL Resist the devil,
and he will flee from ME.
(NIV)
6) I Don’t Have to be a Victim! I Can Be a Victor!
Psalm 119:11
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
(NIV)
You can hide God’s Word in your heart! Let’s take a quick test of our ability to memorize:
What is 2 + 2? 4! How do you know? You memorized that a long time ago!
What is 7 X 7? 49! How do you know? You memorized that!
Recite with me “The Pledge of Alliegance”. How did you know that? You memorized it!
Now a real toughy. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. How did you know that? You memorized it! I guess what. You have memorized Scripture!
MY PROMISE FROM Psalm 119:11
11 GOD, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
(NIV)
If you’ll take this POWER PACK OF PROMISES, hide them away in your heart through memorization, and believe what they say, God will remind you of them when temptation comes your way.
If only David had used what he knew!
2 Samuel 11:1-27
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
6 So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?"
11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"
12 Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle.
19 He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,
20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ’Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?
21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ’Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’"
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.
23 The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate.
24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."
25 David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: ’Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab."
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
(NIV)
