“Facing Temptation” – FBC Morning Light (5/3/2024)

Well, a good Friday morning to you. I hope you're looking forward to a good weekend, going to gather with God's people on the Lord's Day and worship and serve Him together with God's people, as this is what the church does.

The church is a called-out assembly of God's people who gather for the purpose of worshiping Him, hearing from Him, fellowshipping with one another, growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ. I hope that you'll be taking advantage of that opportunity on this coming Lord's Day, if you're at all physically capable of doing so.

Temptation, the Enemy’s Nets, and the Need for Deliverance

Well, today in our Bible reading, again, continuing in the Psalms of David, reading Psalms 27 and 28 and 30 and 31. I'm going to assume that you're just as human as I am and pretty regularly face some kind of temptation.

What do you do when you're facing that temptation? What do you do when you're conscious of the temptation that you're facing? I acknowledge that sometimes our enemy, the wicked one, he broadsides us and we don't see it coming, but oftentimes we are aware of the temptation and it grows, it gets stronger and stronger.

What do we do? What do we do in those times? Well, we realize that the wicked one, Satan, has a whole host of allies at his disposal whom he uses very effectively to try to lure us and tempt us and to harm us, to destroy us, to hurt us, to cause us to sin, to lead us into it.

These are our enemies and they may take all kinds of forms. They may be digital forms, they may be physical forms in terms of people, they may be print in print, things we could read and so on and so forth.

Psalm 31 as a Guide for Prayer in Temptation

How do we deal with these enemies? Well, Psalm 31 gives us some insight, a direction, a guide for dealing with such enemies. The psalmist says this, In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed.

Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. How many times do we do that when we're feeling, experiencing the pull and the power of temptation?

The enemy is closing in. He is getting close and he's about to trip us up. Do we catch ourselves? Do we catch the wicked one in his tactic there and turn to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm putting my trust in you.

Please, please don't let me be ashamed. Don't let me be put to shame here. In your righteousness, deliver me. Please incline your ear to me. Please rescue me speedily. Now, there's clearly a threat in this psalm.

The psalmist says in verse four, he says, Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me. Yeah, are we aware of the nets? I hope we are. I hope we see them when they're laid before us. So that again, in prayer, we can turn to our God and say, Oh, Lord, Lord, please pull me out of this net which they have laid for me.

For you are my strength, he says in verse four. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me. And a little further on, he says in verse nine, well, in verse eight, he says, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.

Lord hasn't delivered us over to the enemy. So we can pray to him and ask him to deliver us out of the enemy's hand who is trying to ensnare us. And then in verse 11, he says, I'm a reproach among all my enemies.

I'm a reproach among my enemies. The wicked one and all of his allies and his emissaries who are constantly endeavoring to trip us up, to ensnare us in their net. We're their enemy. Do we realize that?

Why are we targeted like this? Because they want to destroy us. They want to ruin us. Well, verse 14, the psalmist says, As for me, I trust in you, O Lord. I say, You are my God. My times are in your hand.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Yes, our times are in the Lord's hands, and let's trust in him. Let's turn to him in those times of testing and temptation and call upon him that we not be put to shame, that we be delivered in his righteousness and not fall victim to the snares of the wicked one and his emissaries.

Good prayer to pray. Good way to be alert to what's going on all around us and in our everyday life. May we do so. Our Father and our God, I pray that we would be alert, that we would be sober, we would be vigilant, and when we see the nets being laid, we would quickly turn to you and plead for you to deliver us from those snares.

We ask in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

Closing Encouragement and Benediction

All right, listen, again, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy gathering with God's people on the Lord's Day.

Good day.