“Temptation’s Tease” – FBC Morning Light (11/29/2024)

Well, a good Friday morning to you. I hope your Thanksgiving Day was a blessed day for you and you were able to truly pause in the hubbub of what so often happens in our celebrations to give thanks to the Lord.

Today, of course, starts the frenzy, as the world would call it, the frenzy of the holiday shopping season with Good Friday. It's so easy to get caught up in the worldliness of it all, isn't it? Well, I trust that God in His grace will help you to keep your focus, your perspective on what's really valuable and worthwhile during this holiday season.

The Call to Resist Spiritual Pride

Well, today we're in our Bible reading, picking up where we left off a couple of days ago. We're in 1 Corinthians and reading chapters 8 through 11 today, and I want to zero in on just a couple of verses in chapter 10 that help us to have the right kind of perspective on the temptation to sin.

Here's what I'm getting at. One of them, one of the points that is brought out by Paul is, listen, you're not above it. You're not above it. In chapter 10, Paul's been talking about various kinds of sin that one could fall into.

He says, people were engaged in idolatry, and he says, let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, let us not put Christ to the test as some of them did, let's not complain as some of them complained, and so on and so forth.

He's talking about the Israelites in the wilderness in the Old Testament, and he says these things were given to us as an example that we might learn from them, that we might be admonished not to fall prey to such things.

Then he says this in verse 12, he says, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Obviously what he's getting at there is, we can delude ourselves into thinking that we could not be guilty of certain kinds of sins.

There's no way, I'm above that. We have to be really, really careful if we come to such a conclusion. Paul says, look, if you think you stand in this thing, you better beware or you're going to fall. The way you fall may not be in that particular sin that you think you're above committing, but it could simply be falling into a spiritual pride that thinks that you are something and that your ability to conquer sin is all about you.

No, beware that you don't fall if you think you stand and are above it all. Then in the next verse, verse 13, he gives us another perspective on sin and temptation that we face, and that is that there's no temptation that's overtaken you but what is common to man.

Temptation is common to all of us. He goes on to say, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but he will, with the temptation, also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So, verse 12, the main challenge to us is not to become so proud that we think we can't fall into a particular sin, and verse 13, the challenge is to us never to be so... never to be so... what's the word I'm looking for?

Proud, perhaps, or self-deluded as to think that, well, I couldn't help it. I couldn't help it. Self-justifying, perhaps. I just couldn't help it, you know, this just came over me, and there was just no way I could avoid this.

No, not what God says. He says, with every temptation you and I face, there is a way that God provides for us to escape it, but here's the reality, and let's just be honest with this. Let's just be honest about this.

The problem is that I don't take the way of escape that's there, because at that moment, in the heat of that moment, or in the overwhelming desire that I have, it eclipses the way of escape. In other words, I don't take the way of escape because I really don't want to.

I want to do what I'm tempted to do. So, let's not blame God for these things. Let's put the responsibility squarely where it is. It's on us. It's on us, and when we face that, and we realize that, God, temptation has come my way, and I've yielded to it.

You made a way of escape, but I didn't take it because I didn't want to. It's my fault. I accept it. I'm guilty. Forgive me. Forgive me. May the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse me from my sin once again.

That's how to deal with it, when temptation has overtaken you in your thinking, and you haven't taken that way of escape. So, a couple of good perspectives on temptation and sin today. Let's have a word of prayer.

Prayer for Help in Temptation

Father, I pray that you would, by your Spirit's work in our hearts, so open our eyes to see the way that is there in those times of temptation, and that by your Spirit's prompting, we would take it rather than yield to the desires of the flesh.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, well listen, I hope you have a good weekend, and again, gather with God's people on the Lord's Day. Have a good weekend. God bless.