Please Help Me, I’m Falling!
The title of this message comes from an old C&W song. It is the lament of a man caught between his conscience and his desire. His marriage is not doing well and there is a woman that finds him attractive. He also finds her to be desirable, but he reminds himself and the lady in question about his vows and that to fall would be sin. As the song goes on, he finds the attraction to the other woman becoming stronger. He pleads with her to close the door to temptation so that he cannot walk in. He finds he is losing his will to be true. He knows he should not want her but he does. The song ends with the same plea to the woman to please help him, he’s falling in love with her. It does not come out and say that he finally fell, but from the tone of the final plea it is obvious that he did.
There is a lot of theology in secular songs. Some good and most bad, but here we have a classic example of a person dealing with temptation and doing it all wrong. He is obviously a fairly moral man, but he has allowed himself to get into dire straits due to the state of his marriage and by consistent exposure to this woman. In the darkness of despair he is in doubt of the vows that he made in the light of new love. He is aware of the sin involved if he falls, but he does not run away from the precipice of destruction. Instead, he lingers in the deceptive warmth of emotion rather than peering into the cold crevice awaiting him if he falls. He pleads for help to be true from the very woman who is attracted to him enough that she does not want him to be true. The song had not been written yet, but they were both "lookin’ for love in all the wrong places."
Before we are too hard on either party we must remember the exhortation to "consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted." (Gal 6:1) Another one to remember is "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor 10:12) More of us are guilty in our thought life in this area than we would care to admit and we are just as guilty, Brothers and Sisters, as this couple. (Matt 5:28)
This particular sin stands out to us and we are outraged and indignant, but all sins happen because of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Those are the root sins; the rest are just an offshoot of them. They also occur because of the same mistakes that led our couple in the song into sin.
Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil. (KJV)
The first mistake in any sin is giving the devil opportunity to make us fall. It always starts out as something small and innocent and then it snowballs. We were only going to try one puff on a cigarette as kid, but it turned into a life habit that may bring us to death with cancer way before our time. We just going to have one drink to see what the big deal was and then we became alcoholics after years of just one more for the road to be sociable. We were only going to look at one porn magazine or web site and it turned into an addiction. We were only kissing and petting, but eventually a new life was created in the back seat of a car. We gave the devil opportunity to deceive us and snag us into a pattern of sin.
Our couple here most likely met in a bar. She only came to dance and he was there to have one or two to relax and drown his troubles. First, he just watched her dance and admired her gracefulness. He saw her as the life of the party and he had no life. Then he got the nerve up after a few more belts and asked her to dance. He came back to the bar and she came back and as they became friends he shared with her his troubles at home. She understood because her husband had left her a couple of years ago. Then the friendship turned into a budding romance that caught both of them by surprise. Now, they are in the situation they find themselves in the song.
It doesn’t have to be at the bar. It could be at work. She is a secretary for the Chief and always dresses flashier than the wife at home with the children. She is still slim and trim whereas bearing three kids has not been kind to the "little woman." He is always charming at the office and always has a joke or witty phrase. He seems confident and is quite accomplished in what he does. She admires him and hopes one day to have a man like him. She doesn’t know that he goes home and kicks the dog and bites his wife’s head off. He doesn’t know that she is a very controlling woman and deep in credit card debt to maintain herself in the attire and coiffure that he finds so attractive and cannot afford to pay for his own wife.
They chat back and forth in the office. Now and then they sit together at lunch in the cafeteria. Then he offers to taker her out for Secretary’s Day when he has not taken his wife out in a year. Then, the Boss sends him off on a business trip and sends the Secretary along to help and to give her a perk. They wine and dine a couple of clients while partaking of some wine themselves. They meet in one of their rooms for a nightcap to celebrate the contract or sale. Then something is said or they brush together going for another class of wine and the sparks fly. In the morning, they either fly back very quietly in guilt or he is planning his divorce. They gave place to the devil.
Now, I have used situations that sound like only lost people suffer these temptations and allow themselves to fall off the precipice. It happens to Christians as well. Not long ago there was a scandal involving two Gospel singers that traveled together lifting up the name of Jesus. Somewhere along the way they gave opportunity or place to the devil and they fell. The coworkers attending the conference could have been Christians. One was lonely and the other in a difficult time in their marriage. They could have been reaching for a Dr. Pepperâ instead of a wineglass. Giving the devil opportunity can happen in even what appears to be innocent activities.
I know we are under grace and often a preacher that calls for what seems to be harsh restrictions or has a different interpretation then that what is the current rage is called a legalist. Maybe that might appear to be so, but God’s grace does not bring pain. It is not to be a cloak of maliciousness. (1 Peter 2:16) What is often touted as Christian liberty ends in pain and wickedness, so if I am a legalist by encouraging you to get as far away from the precipice as possible then I wear the tag proudly. Note that Paul enjoined us to not be condemned in the things we allow and taught restraint of liberty to avoid pain and dissension. (Romans 14:20-23) We would do well to learn what that means as well as all things are lawful but not necessarily expedient or edifying. (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23)
Heb 4:15-16
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (KJV)
The second thing that the couple in ballad and we could have done to keep from falling would have been to enter the portal of power. When we pray we have access to the very throne room of the Omnipotent. The man in the song was basically praying to the lady to give him the power he needed to resist the temptation he was experiencing. How silly! She was being tempted as well and that is like asking one drowning person to rescue another drowning person. He needed to turn on his heels and run like mad to a place where he could get power to resist. In the song, it may well have been the first need of his heart to pray for salvation and then deliverance, but the place to get both is the same.
Once he was saved, he could come boldly unto the throne of grace. He could cry out for mercy and find that grace to get him through his time of need. He would not have to be concerned about telling Jesus his weakness or infirmity. Jesus was tempted like us, but because He did not sin, He can give us his strength through the Holy Spirit to overcome sin as well. Now, it is glorious that because of His grace and redemption, we can also find forgiveness when we fall, but how much better is it to not sin and rejoice in overcoming the temptation? This is His desire for us and it should be our goal to get the victory!!
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (KJV)
How do we get the victory? Submit, resist and conquer. Submit is a military term and it means to be in subjection to or obedient to the one that is our authority. Yes, ladies, it is the same word as in Ephesians 5:22. No, the word does not mean mutual submission because Christ is definitely not submitting to us as authorities. We submit to Him as our authority.
When you are in the military, you best obey your superiors. It can cost you rank, money, and a dishonorable discharge during peacetime, but it can cost your life in war. We are in a battle and our Commander-in Chief has a battle book and a strategy for defeating the enemy. It has nothing to do with our strength or abilities, but with His and He never loses!!!
You run out there like some kind of Righteous Rambo and the devil’s troops are going wear you out. Too many of God’s soldiers are AWOL, in the hospital or on extended R&R because they tried to fight in their own strength and wisdom. They have the scars to prove it. Instead of trying to fight on our own, we need to retreat and submit the battle and ourselves to Him. The victory is His and He has the scars to prove it!! Stand in the battle submitted to Him and His power will be endued upon you. He will choose whether to parry or thrust with the Sword of the Spirit. When He gives you the command and method then you resist the devil in His power and with His Word. Then you will be more than conquerors as the devil flees from you and you overcome the temptation without sin! The devil won’t just saunter away from you. He will flee so fast that it will be like a vanishing act!!!
Cry out to God "Please help me I am falling!" Do not give opportunity for the devil to deceive you! Run to the throne! God knows that you may feel like you are "losing the will to be true", but He is always faithful and He will come to your aid! Stand in His strength! Submit yourself unto Him! Resist the devil in Christ’s power and watch the vanishing act!!! Brethren, I commit you and myself "unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." (Jude 24)
