Talk on Temptation
Introduction:
When Robert asked me to talk about temptation – I wondered if he had asked me because he thought that I might be some sort of expert in the field!!!!
Have you ever thought what is meant in the Lord’s Prayer when Jesus said:
“Lead us not into temptation….” (Mt 6:13)
Have you ever asked any of these questions?
i. Does God tempt us?
ii. Is temptation a sin?
And indeed what do you make of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness in Luke 4.
I won’t touch that because I know that Bishop David will address that next week.
iii) And have you ever thought about whom or what is the Devil?
Bishop David tells me he’ll be talk a bit about that – so I’ll defer to rank!
This evening I don’t plan to deal with these esoteric questions
What I’d like to focus on is how can we resist temptation?
Oscar Wilde in his inimitable way usually had something to say about everything – and temptation was no exception: He said
1. "I can resist anything except temptation!"
2. "The best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it!"
Was he right?
If he wasn’t, how do we deal with temptation.
1. “When kings go off to war”
This evening, I’d like to focus on one verse from our OT lesson today. That seemingly strange phrase in 2 Samuel 11: 1:
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war,…..(2 Sam 11:1)
When I first read it – I was perplexed – not just about the meaning of the verse, but because I had to preach on that passage at the Anglican Church in Basle later on that week.
So what is it all about?
“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war”
1. The Context
The verse introduces one of the most notorious acts of treachery in the Old Testament.
King David’s adultery with Uriah the Hittite’s wife, Bathsheba - followed by the shameful murder of her husband.
2. Who was Uriah?
What makes this event so despicable is that Uriah
wasn’t just any old soldier.
He was one of David’s special SAS force - known as the Thirty Chiefs - who had been with David from the days of Adullum’s Cave (2 Sam 23: 39).
In other words Uriah was a trusty companion of David’s. A friend even. And David had him killed!
2. David’s sin
I haven’t come across anyone who could break so many of the 10 commandments at one sitting!
As far as I can make out David managed to break at least 4 of the 10 commandments
You shall not murder (No. 6)
You shall not commit adultery (No. 7)
You shall not steal (No. 8)
You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife (No. 10)
(Ex 20:1-17)
Almost sounds like Saddam Hussein doesn’t he?
But just before you think that David was a special
sinner, I’d like to park a verse with you that St. Paul said about King David:
(God) testified concerning (David): ’I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22)
A murderer, an adulterer, a thief - a man after God’s own heart?
So how do we marry up all these paradoxes?
I am not going to answer the question now - I may well answer that later!
But back to my Bible reading:
In the spring when kings go out to war…David remained in Jerusalem.
God had called David to be king and so HE SHOULD have been at the head of his troops.
In those days, the king had the responsibility of leading his troops into battle. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
I would like to suggest to you that there are three reasons why David fell for the temptation.
Reason No. 1.
David fell into temptation because he was in the wrong place
We will often fall for temptation when we are not where we should be - in the Will of God.
Story: In 1980, Mt St. Helens in Washington State erupted - spewing lava out for miles around.
83 year-old Harry Truman (not to be confused with the former US President) was the owner of Mt. St. Helens Lodge. He had been a resident there for nearly 50 years and became nationally famous for his refusal to leave his lodge - despite the orders for all residents and visitors to clear the danger area before the eruption. But the blast when it came - covered his lodge with 180 feet of debris and 90 feet of water.
Truman had expected lava flows but thought that he could be evacuated by helicopter, when the time came.
What happened was something entirely different and it cost him his life.
Truman died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And if we fall into temptation, it often is because we are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
2. Reason No. 2
The second reason David fell into temptation was that he gave into the “sin of the second glance”.
There was nothing wrong when he saw Bathsheba naked the first time – he couldn’t be blamed for that – but it was sin when he looked the second time.
Story: The habits and customs of the Eskimos of North Alaska have been remained very much the same for 500 years, until very recently.
They had to depend on catching the polar bear
for meat,
for clothing – the bear’s fur,
for fat for cooking, and
for tools, the bear’s bones and teeth
However you don’t just go out and catch a polar bear. The polar bear is too big for a man to take head on - so they developed an ingenious way of catching them.
First of al the Eskimos kill a small seal drag the carcass across the snow leaving a trail of blood. They then take a double edged knife and freeze the long handle about two foot deep into the snow leaving the double edged blade protruding.
They then place the carcass over the blade.
And then the game of patience begins.
The polar bear finds the tracks of blood in the snow, follows the tracks and finds an easy meal.
Once he had said grace! he tucks into the food and soon the delicacy would be devoured. The Eskimos are smart, they know that if they take a small seal rather than a large seal, the bear would still be incredibly hungry even after eating the seal.
He devours the little seal, and he licks the blade.
Just as I used to lick the bowl when Mum used to make a cake.
The bear licks, and licks, and licks. Now remember the bear is drawn to his food by the taste of blood . The more he licks the more he tastes blood – his own blood!! In fact, it is the taste of his own blood that kills him!!.
The blood is the ’fatal attraction’ for the bear. And the sin of lust was the fatal attraction for King David.
Although he was eventually forgiven by God, he had to live with the consequences – in his family life. But that is another story!
Reason No. 3
Reason No. 3
The third reason that David fell into temptation was that he wanted to cover up his original sin
One sin often leads onto another and in this case
David gave into the temptation to look good in the eyes of the world.
When Bathsheba told him that she was pregnant, David tried to get Uriah to come home and sleep with his wife, so they could pass the child off as Uriah’s!
But when you are so public a figure you can’t get away with that!!
The palace guard probably wasn’t taken in. I bet Uriah wasn’t either.
Having called Uriah back from the front, David invited him to go home and sleep with his wife .
However Uriah’s answer had quite a sting in the tail:
"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!"
And - in other words – that’s where you should have been too, my Lord - not messing with my wife!
4. A man after God’s own heart
So why did St. Paul call David a man after God’s own heart?
I think you will find the key in 2 Samuel 12, where Nathan the prophet confronts David over his sin..
Nathan the prophet was a very brave man – it could easily have cost him his head. In those days kings were absolute monarchs and could do just what they liked with their subjects.
Nathan told David the story of a man who had one single little sheep that he loves very much.
Yet one day one of the rich local landowners had a friend come to visit. Instead of taking a lamb from his own flock, he stole the poor man’s only sheep killed it and put it on the table for his friend.
David is so incensed at the injustice of it all – and you see David’s real heart coming through – that he said that the man who did this must die!!
And in probably the most moving scene of the Old
Testament - Nathan looks David in the eye and says: “Thou art the man!” (2 Sam12:7).
You could cut the air.
What does David do? Does he fly off the handle and do a Henry VIII? Off with his head.
No – read 2 Sam 12:13
Then David confessed to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam 12:13)
And THAT is the key to Paul’s statement that King David was a man after God’s own heart.
David stopped covering up and threw himself on God’s mercy.
St John in his first letter says this: If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and his word has no place in our hearts. (1 Jn 1:8-10)
If we fall for temptation – be quick to confess it to God and put the matter in order.
When I was younger, I used to wonder if I had ever committed the “Unforgivable Sin” – the sin against the Holy Spirit. But I remember hearing a preacher say that if you worry about that you haven’t!!!! There is NO SIN that hasn#t been covered by the blood of Jesus – if you bring it to Jesus.
God will always forgive us if we repent and turn to
Him.
So if you wish to resist temptation, may I suggest the following:
1. Pray
As John Penny always says to me: “Martin, don’t
forget to say your prayers every day”.
Spend time privately with the Lord. Tell him your weaknesses and ask him to give you strength to resist.
2. Bible Reading
Read your Bible regularly. I find it much harder to sin when I have been reading my Bible regularly.
In one of my Bibles, I have this saying:
Clean Bible, dirty Christian
Dirty Bible, clean Christian.
3. Christian fellowship
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. (Prov 27:17).
We are all part of the body of Christ – there is not such a thing as a lone Christian. Even the Lone Ranger had a friend Tonto.
We need to meet together regularly – not just on a Sunday but I would suggest in mid week Fellowship meetings to pray, to read the Bible and to spend time together as friends.
4. Find a prayer partner
It is good to have someone who can “walk the
Christian pilgrimage with you”
St. James says this:
My dear brothers and sisters, if any one among you wanders from the truth and is brought back again, you can be sure that the one who brings that person back will save that sinner from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins (Jas 5:19-20)
Find someone to be your companion – and who you can trust.
5. Sleep
Make sure you get enough sleep. The Devil will get in when we are tired.
6. Reading material
What do you read? A diet of the “News of the World” isn’t going to be that helpful to resisting temptation.
And do you read good Christian biographies – to encourage you in your faith? I am reading John Pollack’s biography of John Wesley at the moment.
What do you allow your eyes to feast on?
6. What do you feast your eyes on in TV?
What do you watch on TV? Enough said.
How much time do you spend with the Telly.
How much would your prayer life improve if you spent as much time in prayer as you do watching TV. Now that’s food for thought for me too!!
Resisting temptation is not an impossible thing. St. Paul said this about it:
13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (1 Cor 10:13)
But you are going to have to work at it.
7. In the place where God wants you
And to finish with, I’d like to ask: Are you in the place where the Lord has called you to be?
Or are you – like Jonah running from Ninevah.
Or perhaps you don’t know where the Lord wants you to be? If that applies to you may I suggest you ask God to show you where you should be.
“In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war” (2 Sam 11:1)
Are you where God wants you …because if you are, you’ll find that is the key to resisting temptation…. Amen
