Introduction: When I was a teenager, I remember my uncle telling me of times when He would go spelunker caves. He told me that there were times deep inside some of the caves where you had to crawl on your stomach and through the water and mud and as the walls of the caves would get tighter and tighter he recalled a time when the flashlight went out, and having to crawl backward out of the cave in total darkness, with mud sliding through his fingers trying to get a grip and having things crawling around you. Can you imagine being deep inside a hole and the only light you have for guidance goes out? My uncle of course was lucky to get out. But there have been many explorers that were not so lucky.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. - Jer 5:21
Matthew Henry said that these were wicked men and even worse because they were found among God’s people. They were spiteful and malicious. He said “Such are properly wicked men who delight in doing mischief. They were caught in the very act of their wickedness. As hunters lay traps and dig holes for their game, they have made a sport of catching men. And they delight in it as a hunter delights in catching his game”. They, like Satan, who is like a roaring lion, trying to trap his prey with different vices. Satan and his agents are trying to capture good people like you. I’m not trying to scare you, or discourage you, but you need to be warned that our adversary the devil is trying to trap you.
Transition: Let’s look together at three of these pits (traps) that we may find ourselves in and acknowledge the only way to get out.
I. The Hole of Shame
A. The Shame of Sin
Adam and Eve knew they had sinned and realized they were naked and covered their shame. How many people have found themselves in a hole of shame, where they hide from God, thinking “God won’t forgive this sin, it is way too big and too bad!” We feel the burden of shame and are stuck inside of it. Living in the hole of the humiliation of our own guilt and the constant feeling of rejection and criticism will cause us to feel worthless, helpless and hopeless.
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - I Peter 1:3
There is no hope outside of Jesus Christ, if you put your hope into anything or anyone else then your hope is vulnerable. Things come and go, because they are perishable. Men will fail because they are fallible. Religions of the world will fade because they do not offer truth. But Jesus said “I am the .....the truth.... - John 14:6
the psalmist said, ‘He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made’. - Psalms 7:15
This person works hard to dig a pit and then falls into it. This is true of every sinner. Matthew Henry also notes that “They prepare destruction for themselves by preparing themselves for destruction. They load themselves with guilt and submit themselves to their corruptions. What they designed for the shame and destruction of good people, proves to be their own destruction”. If evildoers are attempting to bring shame upon you, take heart, they do this because you are good and they wish to shame the good that is in you. Jesus said in John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
B. Shame of Christ
How many people have been ashamed of wearing the label of ‘Christian’ standing on the side of good. We feel, at times that we are in a hole of obligation caught inside and called to stand up for Christ against our wishes, because we wear the name Christian and are proud of it. But when the spirit reminds us that if we are ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of us before the Father, then the shame is doubled for feeling ashamed of Christ.
Peter proclaimed that he would never deny Jesus and even drew up arms with his sword to protect him. With such passion and zeal, how could this disciple deny Christ? But he didn’t just deny him he denied having any affiliation with him what so ever three times. And later his shame caused him to repent. This causes a great spiritual confusion within us.
The word heart in I John 3:20 refers to our conscience. “For if our heart (conscience) condemns us, then God is greater than our heart (conscience), and knows all things”
II. The Hole of Fear
The hole of fear is tight and suffocating and with each passing moment we spend in it, the hole becomes deeper. Living in the closed quarters of Fear is living in misery.
“Fear is the parent of cruelty.” - James Anthony Froud
There are many who offer freedom from fear. But there is only one can deliver it. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. - I Timothy 1:7
During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Kruschev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. In the midst of his speech a heckler shouted “you were one of his colleagues why didn’t you stop him?” Kruschev screamed “Who said that?” there was a deathly silence as nobody in the room dared moved a muscle and then He said “Now you know why?”
Fear will silence us. Fear will confuse us. And fear can paralyze us. Recently, there was a small two year old girl whose innocent life was tragically taken by a Burmese Python. The coils of this snake tighten around it’s victims so that when it prey breathes out it constricts itself tighter, thus not allowing the lungs to take in a breath. Fear is like that python, it stealthily seeks the innocent among us and tightens itself around us like the cold dark earth around is in the hole. We are paralyzed and are finding it difficult even to breathe. There is only one who can get us out.
The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1
If you know that God is God! and if you know that Christ is Christ! And if you have learned the lessons of the Bible, then you know that there is never a reason to be afraid when you are a child of God!
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish would give him a snake.” - Matthew 7:9
And we know that in all things that god works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28
III. The Hole Doubt
The hole of doubt is a mystery. It is an illusion. It calls the truth into question and it calls the Christian faith into suspicion. The truth is truth. The only question is: do you believe it?
G. Campell Morgan had already enjoyed some success as a preacher by the time he was 19 years old. But then he was attacked by doubts about the Bible. The writings of various scientists disturbed him. As he read their books and listened to their debates he became more and more perplexed. He canceled all of his preaching engagements and put all of his books in a cupboard and locked it, then went to the book store and bought a new Bible. He said to himself, “I am no longer sure that this book is what my father claims it to be - the word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the word of God, and I come to it with an unprejudiced heart and open mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself.” What was the result? Campbell said “that Bible found me!” That assurance gave him motivation to preach and to teach that Bible to others.
Morgan came out of the hole of doubt because he had faith in God’s word!
“. . . . . whatsoever shall say unto this mountain to be removed, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which He saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” - Mark 11:23
Jesus said ‘O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’
Peter was sinking because he was distracted by the waves and the wind and the ferocity of the two of them stole his attention from God. He took his eyes off the one who would give him everything. And as a result he begin to sink. One aspect however that sometimes gets lost in this lesson is that he only sank until he cried out to Jesus to save him. When He said “Save me Lord!” Christ did not deny him salvation. And he will never deny you and me salvation even from deepest pits, and the coldest places where there is nothing but dreary gloom surrounding us, an certain death is coming toward us, Christ will always reach down his hand for us! The prodigal son belonged to his father, but it didn’t stop him from leaving the one that loved him. How many of us know of such a family member or friend that belonged to God and walked away. Like Peter, when he was in despair, he turned and went to his father, because he had faith that his father could save him from his current unfortunate circumstances. Where one was distracted by fear and the other by lust of the world they both knew where to turn for salvation, and it does not matter where you have slipped nor how deep you have gone down, the arm of God is just as everlasting as the life he offers us. What a Great Savior!!
* ‘A Man fell in a Hole’ video from Sermon Central
Conclusion: Jesus is not a way out. He is the only way out! He is the only way that we are going to get out of the holes that we find ourselves trapped in. If you have fallen away from God or you have found yourself struggling with doubt, shame, or fear. God has sent his son to pull You out. You only need to let him have yourself, do that today!
