Still in the month of transition, last week we began a two-part series on battling temptation. I invite you back to our Scripture text, 1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Alongside our temptation, God is faithful. That was the bulk of our sermon last week, so I won’t spend time reviewing it. Go back and read because there is real encouragement in this assertion: God is faithful.
But notice now that Paul spells out a couple of specifics that God’s faithfulness shows up in our temptations: As part of his commitment toward us, God manages our temptations so that it is never inevitable that we sin. We are never, never, never fated to mess up. God guarantees it.
We should stop for a second to notice that this implies God is over our temptations. Not that He is tempting us: The letter of James says: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God is not tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any person.”
Nevertheless, if God promises not to allow a temptation to arrive that is more than our capacity to bear, that must mean that He has the authority over our temptation, complete jurisdiction, permitting some, refusing others.
And since God is good, and He allows temptation to come into our lives, we conclude that the temptations He allows are, at least potentially, for some good. What are some goods that arise out of our temptations?
· They could move us to call out to God. “God delights in our temptations and yet hates them. He delights in them when they drive us to prayer; he hates them when they drive us to despair.” – Martin Luther
· They could drive us to the Scripture. Martin Luther: “I did not learn my theology all at once but had to search constantly deeper and deeper for it. My temptations did that for me, for no one can understand Holy Scripture without practice and temptations…It is not by reading, writing, or speculation that one becomes a theologian. Nay, rather, it is living, dying, and being [tempted] that makes one a theologian.” He says in another place, “My temptations have been my Masters of Divinity.”
· They can steer us away from spiritual flippancy – John Newton: “The light carriage, vain confidence, and woeful backslidings of many nominal Christians might… have been in some measure prevented if they been more acquainted with this spiritual warfare and had drunk from the cup of temptation.”
· Temptations can move us into a better discipline over every aspect of our lives.
Anyhow, we could go a lot deeper in considering how God uses temptations to strengthen his people and otherwise move His will forward. We could fasten on the fact that it was the Holy Spirit that drove Jesus into the wilderness in order to be tempted.
But here’s the main point: Christian, God has so arranged your temptation so that you never have to give in.
You never need to pass the buck and say, My complaining is inevitable because of the school I’m attending or the teacher I have. There is no smart or grown-up or authentic way to go through what I’m going through without complaining.
You never have to be controlled by others or circumstances or background –it is the woman that thou gavest to me. Look at my home life; of course I’m going to give in to rage every once in a while.
Or, remember I was molested as a kid – You should expect me to live my adult years in bitterness or dabbling in sexual sin myself.
Or you don’t have to yield to this very common thought: This temptation is so strong. It’s overtaken all my thoughts. I just want it to be over. Who knows how long it will last. I can’t see myself bearing this for two more hours. And this could last another day. A week. A year. Decade.
I HAVE TO GIVE IN, JUST SO IT’LL BE OVER.
What does one time matter?
How can I not fantasize if I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to have sex or have sex again? You can’t expect purity in this world that is riddled with overt eroticism!? THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. Look at the world, look at my desires. I’m just so curious. I just want to be held tenderly.
And the reply is, no, you’re still able to say ‘no’ right now. You aren’t given to say ‘no’ now for the temptation that will be coming in five minutes. But God has arranged this so that, in this moment, you can, you can, you can, say ‘no.’ Because of God’s faithfulness, it is possible to sit under temptation for years without falling into it.
Your emotions say one thing, you glance into the future and are exhausted by the possibility of a long, drawn-out battle, but for now, accept the grace of God’s enabling in this moment.
And look for the way to escape. That’s our second point. Look for a way of escape, because with every temptation there is not just a vague pledge of God’s enabling, but He opens an exit out, a passage away from sin.
It’s important to note that the way of escape from sin often doesn’t come to light under the duress of temptation. The way of escape is normally show to you beforehand and becomes a habit to practice leading up to the noonday heat of temptation. Proverbs 7 spotlights “a young man lacking sense passing along the street near the [seductive women’s] corner, in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of light and darkness.” (7b-9) He’s about to experience a sore temptation and I bet he’ll be too inflamed to think about escapes from temptation. No, the escape showed up beforehand, and would have prevented that fateful walk in the first place.
And now the sermon loses any polish it might have had, because for the remainder of the time I simply want to list ways of escape from temptation. Some of these escapes are applied in the moment of temptation, most escapes are dug out beforehand, in preparation for the temptation that is on its way:
· Exposure to the Scripture. Psalm 19:11: I have stored up your word in my heart/ that I might not sin against you.– When Jesus was tempted three times in the wilderness, three times he replied with the words of Scripture. Daily Scripture reading washes the soul. With intake of Scripture, in the heat of temptation there’s a vitality that in ways you can’t trace resists the destructiveness. In the Scripture you are given direction – not only how not to sin, but more positively what you are here for, where to direct your efforts. Much of temptation occurs in the absence of obligation, a lack of effort toward the right ends. Scripture is a lamp to your feet.
· Prayer – “Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” There are times of need comin’ – times of temptation and testing – and a habit of prayer prepares you for those times. If you find yourself continually falling before temptation, ask yourself about your prayer life.
Well, I pray every day! But do you…pray? Are you improving on calming and quieting your soul… and really praying. Or are your prayers fitful, largely inattentive, commandeered by your phone or your fears?
I’m sure that the distance between our intelligence and God means that even our most articulate prayers are but babble to him. I’m also sure that God is so good that he’s bends low to hear our words that sound even to us like babble. But I’m not at all sure that what we call babble prepares us to face temptation.
· Asking other believers to intercede for you – As of right now, my understanding is that this praying for others seems to be the best application of Jesus’ instructions to the disciples after washing their feet: “For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you.” John 13:15 Wash the grime of secularism, of unbelief, of fearfulness, of lust etc off fellow disciples’ feet as you pray them through temptation. Seek prayer for yourself. Pray for me. Pray for me. I’m reading the letters of C.S. Lewis; many of those conclude with “pray for me.”
A corollary to this: if you are carrying around secret temptations, unburden yourself to some Christian who will treat that knowledge with discretion and respect.
· Adjust your expectations – Psalm 124 – the victory over temptation is not often experienced as triumphal, but narrow escapes. Don’t expect to feel magnificent in the wake of temptation; don’t be depressed by the fact that you’re barely making it minute by minute. You probably won’t feel strong as you do the right thing; rather, ‘if it had not been the LORD who was on our side…then they would have swallowed us up alive’… “We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers…” Psalm 124: 2, 3, 7
· Know yourself: 1 Thessalonians 4: 3,4 – This is the will of God…that each one of you know how to control his own body…” Open up your eyes and get a sense on what is triggering your temptations and then make manage those as best you can. I found a personal letter where C.S. Lewis writes about combating lust: “…On the purely physical side (but people no doubt differ) I’ve always found that tea and bodily weariness are two great disposing factors, and therefore the great dangers. Sadness is also a danger: lust in my experience follows disgruntlement nearly always…”
This might help you understand yourself: My suspicion is that people are overstimulated today…there are too many currents of information and entertainment streaming into their life…and many can’t handle it. They get confused and/or forgetful about what their true duties are. Constantly feeling behind. And then sad. And then out of this sadness and confusion come bad decisions and further forgetfulness of what they’re about.
· Look ahead. Look ahead. “The prudent man foresees danger and hides himself; the simple pass on and are punished.” Proverbs 27:12 When I work with this person, I get irritated, and then I come home angry with life… – so what’s your plan for the next time?
“Don’t look on the wine when it sparkles in the cup…” Proverbs 23: 31 – If you struggle with over-drinking don’t find yourself in a spot where you are gazing at sparkling wine in a glass. Plan your movements for the whole day. Make plans for just that day. One day at a time. Tomorrow plan that next day.
· Pay attention to detail: Ephesians 4 – “Give no opportunity to the devil”; Ephesians 5 – “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but wise.” Romans 13 – “Make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires”; 1 Peter 4 – “Pagan ways of life have had quite enough of your time already, and you should put all that behind you for good – all that uncleanness, passion, drunkenness, excessive feasting, drinking-parties and lawless idolatry.” We’ve already wasted too much time with silliness and overindulgence and filth.
So let’s waste no more time in the grime of the world, and the way that we might waste time wouldn’t be in large noticeable blocks, but through ingesting here a movie that coaches you to be frivolous toward sin, a couple of tawdry YouTube videos there. Pay attention to the details. Often, it’s not the big things that are dragging you down, but it’s death by a thousand cuts that are bringing you up to your temptations already weakened. What exactly is sucking your energy to fight for joy and against sin?
The truth behind these passages is that the Christian life, rightly understood, is always “all in.” Fully committed. So give no quarter to the devil or the flesh – are you bitter at all toward someone – think your way out of it completely. Are you cutting corners on your work over here? STOP! Are you fudging the truth? – NO MORE.
In preparing for this message I watched a John Piper video on fighting lust. One of the commenters spoke eloquently to his personal struggle with lust, and I clicked on the user profile. He or she had liked a bunch of hip-hop videos! If you’re struggling with lust, you don’t watch hip-hop videos. And you might be in a network of people who know hip-hop, quote hip-hop lines, and you might have to be the ignoramus of the group. A silly illustration.
· It’s a struggle out there…expect some losses: James 4 – Resist the Devil. Romans 8 – Put to death the deeds of the body. Our Lord recorded in Matthew 5 – If your right eye offends you, cut it out. Timothy – Flee youthful lusts. – This is a long, drawn-out war, and that war might involve a strategy of planned losses so you can win the war. Don’t rush to drastic measures; avoid them if you can. However…if after several experiences you figure out that you cannot start drinking without getting drunk, it’s time to give up imbibing altogether. If Potiphar is seductive, don’t try to think your way through it, don’t keep doing what you’re doing, don’t keep your dignity – RUN! If you are crippled by nostalgia or sadness, consider closing your social media accounts.
Seriousness. Intentionality. Everything is dispensable if necessary to follow Christ.
· Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect. Be perfect, [not act perfect]. The point is not to look good. We aren’t going through the motions of fighting against sin, but thoughtfully, strategically, fighting against sin. Seriously fighting against sin, which might, paradoxically, involve a sense of humor.
· Finally, in all of the battle against sin, believe in Jesus Christ.
Every week we gather to again remind ourselves that we face every temptation as sinners who have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus! So, in our struggle against sin, let us not forget to rejoice in Christ…specifically in what He has done! Let us exalt and sing and face our temptations as those who are already justified! Ecclesiastes 9:7: “Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.”
Beware of forgetting that Christ died for our sins. While forgetting we can retain a superficial seriousness, a so-called righteousness, a kind of obsessive-compulsive perfectionism that is constantly studying itself… but thus which is always one step away from haughtiness and self-righteousness.
We also gather to remember an important lesson from the history of salvation: that merely striving seriously to fight temptation never adequately deals with temptation to sin. We need to have grasped something else before serious effort – we need to hear the story, the gospel: that our sins are forgiven and that God is for us.
Brothers and sisters, beware in fighting temptation of the kind of self-centeredness that presents as focusing too much on your internal state, getting your thoughts just so, and forgetting the accomplishment of Jesus Christ
Martin Luther was especially wary of this kind of self-focus which can only spiral into despair or spring into pride. In a letter to a friend, he exaggerates to make his point: believe in Jesus Christ. In fighting sin don’t become self-obsessed with how good you’re becoming nor be crushed by your failure! Let the hearer understand!
“Whenever the devil harasses you [with melancholy thoughts about how we’re not exacting enough in our righteousness], seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.”
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