THE GIANT THAT BROUGHT DOWN DAVID
1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
(NIV)
I watched Michael’s ministry for several years. He was a caring young man with a calling to youth ministry. He loved kids and they loved him. He worked in our youth camps and every boy wanted in his cabin.
I saw him at camp the day before he left for Bible College. He told me how excited he was to pursue ministerial training. We hugged and I prayed as he headed down the sandy road out of camp and into a promising future.
The next time I saw Michael was in my office. To my surprise, he was home from Bible College, a broken young man. A moment of indiscretion, an inappropriate touch on a child, had caught up with Michael, now awaiting trial. After telling me the shocking, unbelievable story, Michael asked me, “Can I come to church here?”
What would you say? This is what I said: “If you can’t worship God here, then we’d better take Father’s Name off the door! However, , YOUR ONE-TIME ACT, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS FROM THIS POINT, NO MATTER THE RESULTS OF YOUR TRIAL, THAT ACT HAS TAKEN YOUR ABILITY TO WORK WITH YOUTHAWAY. You will never be able to serve in that capacity again. “
Simple failures, while forgivable, have long-range consequences.
A simple definition of Holiness: Holiness is perfect love for God and perfect love for man. Sin is less than perfect love for God and man. You may be saying, “I can’t be perfect”! Jesus told us to be as perfect as God! (Matthew 5:48) Why would Jesus have told us that if it were impossible. When a daddy looks at a newborn baby, he counts the fingers and toes and proclaims, “My baby is perfect!” Does that mean that baby will never make messes, never cry, never need a whipping? No, but in that daddy’s eyes, that baby is perfect! Shouldn’t we give God as much credit as we give ourselves?
David was a “man after God’s own heart”. Yet he failed.
David brought down Goliath but a BIGGER GIANT brought David down! A night of indiscretion, a bad decision, with tragic results!
It was about this time of year. Winter’s blast has been replaced by warm breezes. The roads had dried out from the muck and mire of winter snow. After Passover, the people returned from the feast to plant crops. In Israel, the wheat and barley were ready for harvesting.
It was also the time for conquest, for war. General Joab and the Israeli Army had already destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men were out on the battlefield. Everyone but the King.
Why David was not leading the charge is not known. For some reason He stayed home from the war games. The story of the Giant that brought down David is summed up in four verses:
2 Samuel 11:1-4
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 [a] she went back home.
How We Are Tempted:
Satan has a PURPOSE,
he makes PREPARATION,
and he has a PLAN to bring us down to the pit with Him. Remember,
Hell was prepared “for the devil and his angels.” (Matt 25:41) (NIV) Satan does not want to suffer alone!
SATAN’S PURPOSE:
The Three-fold PURPOSE of Temptation
1) STEAL
2) KILL
3) DESTROY
John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
(NIV)
Satan’s Preparation
The THREE Passages of temptation:
1) FEELINGS GATE
2) EYE GATE
3) PRIDE GATE
I John 2:16
“For everything in the world—
the cravings of sinful man,
the lust of his eyes,
and the boasting of what he has and does—
comes not from the Father but from the world.” (NIV)
Satan’s PLAN
James 1:14-15
“Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”(NIV)
1) Use FAMILIAR, LIKABLE BAIT
2) HOOK YOU
3) SET THE HOOK
4) REEL you in
5) FRY you
How To Overcome Temptation
God will not let me be tempted BEYOND what I can BEAR!
Remember...
S ELF-CONTROL
O BSERVANT
S TAND FIRM
1 Peter 5:8-9
“Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the world
are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
(NIV)
Why do lion tamers use a stool or a chair when they go into the Lion’s cage? Do they think they can keep the lion at bay with a flimsy chair? A lion’s jaws are strong enough to snap a man’s back! The lion tamer uses the chair or stool to distract the lion. Cats are single focused! A cat cannot focus on more than one object. When the lion sees the legs of the chair or stool, he is mesmerized and therefore incapacitated!
One of the tricks of the devil is confusion. He confuses us to distract us so that we don’t trust the Lord.! Throw that same defense back at him with the memorized Word of God! That’s what Jesus did and you can, too.
That great theologian, John Wayne, said: “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway!”
COWARDICE NEVER WINS AGAINST TEMPTATION;
ONLY COURAGE!
On May 21, 1946 in Los Alamos, NM, a young and daring scientist, Louis Slotin, was carrying out a necessary experiment in preparation for the atomic test to be conducted in the waters of the South Pacific.
He had successfully performed the experiment many times before. In his effort to determine the amount of U-235 necessary to create a chain reaction – scientist call it “critical mass” – he would push two hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he would push them apart with his screwdriver, thus stopping the chain reaction.
But that day, just as the mass became critical, the screwdriver slipped. The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Slotin, instead of ducking and possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his bare hands and interrupted the chain reaction.
By this instant, self –forgetful daring, he saved the lives of seven other persons in the room. As he waited for the car that was to take him to the hospital, he said quietly to his companion, “You’ll come through alright, but I haven’t the faintest chance of survival.” Nine days later, Slotin died.
Jesus walked directly into sin’s most concentrated radiation, allowed Himself to be touched by the curse and let it take His life. And by that act, He broke the chain reaction. He broke the power of sin!
