#2 “Journey of Faith”
Series
"TEMPTATION
STAGE!"
TEXT: Gen.
12:10-20 1 Cor. 10:13 1 Pet.
5:6-10
INTRO: Temptation
is something that we will have to deal with the rest of our life, and it has the
potential of destroying us if we don’t master it.
ILLUS: In the
spring when the ice breaks up a very unusual sight can be seen on the great
Niagara Falls. Huge numbers of dead
fish can be seen floating, encased in chunks of ice from the winter time ... the
sea gulls are everywhere landing on the chunks of ice and picking at it with
their beaks until they get the frozen treat they seek. Just as the floating ice chunks reach the
edge of the falls the gulls would spread their wings and fly away from the
danger of going over with the pieces of ice. If one watches however you would be
shocked by the sight of some gulls that have stayed too long on the piece of
ice, their feet melted into the ice and refroze in it ... they too go over to
their destruction for having dwelt too long of these frozen
desserts! – Source Unknown
Temptation and sin are like this! Sin can be so appealing, it can look like
fun and even be attractive ... but when the time comes to flee and we have
stayed too long we will find ourselves going over the edge to our destruction
... death results instead of life!
PROP. SENT: The biggest challenge of your life
will be how you handle temptations! Those who succeed at refusing temptations
to sin will be those who will live as victorious Christians ... it won't matter
how well you can fly, just like those gulls ... when you dwell on temptation
you're going to be frozen to it!
FLEEING is sometimes the best solution for fighting
temptation!
TRANS.
SENT: Charles Spurgeon the great preacher
once said this about temptation: “Learn to say 'no' … it will be of more use to you than to
be able to read Latin!”
I. TEMPTATION TO STRAY! Gen. 12:10-11; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 5:6-10
A. Consequences Gen. 12:10; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 5:6-10
1. All Christians are tempted
... but not ALL Christians are successful at overcoming or fighting against
temptations!
2. There is not a single
Christian anywhere on this planet that will not be faced with numerous
temptations in their lifetime!
3. There are also common
experiences for those who overcome and those who give in to
temptations!
a. The overcomer finds greater
spiritual strength and resolve.
b. Those who give in find the
same bitter experiences of loss and death!
c. Temptation and the results or
consequences are no respecter of persons!
4. The poor and the rich man who
give in to the same temptation will experience the same types of consequences
just as those gulls, old or young, strong or weak, large or small … all go to
their grave if they went over the falls by being frozen into those pieces of ice
from dwelling on them too long!
ILLUS: You know
the old story of how to boil a frog. You don't put him in a pot of boiling
water. You drop him in the boiling water and he'll jump out before he's injured.
So you put him in a pot of cold
water, and he's perfectly comfortable. Then you put him on the stove, and little
by little the water gets warm. It's
very pleasant at first. Then it
gets to Jacuzzi level, and he begins to be a little alarmed. Finally, when it's boiling, it's too
late. Christians are like that,
aren't we? We get into the world
and it's oh so pleasant at first. And then it gets a little warmer and it's
pleasanter yet. And one day we
realize the danger: "This is going
to kill me, and I haven't the strength to get out!" -- Donald Hoke, "The Stockholm Syndrome," Preaching Today,
Tape 30.
5. This is the one aspect of sin
most American Christians take too lightly these days ... THERE ARE REAL AND
SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES for giving in to sin and
temptation!
6. Satan has one single
obsession ... to destroy God's children no matter how he can do it! ALL BELIEVERS ARE CANDIDATES FOR
TEMPTATIONS!
7. For Abram ... his earlier “delay,”
(remember "TERAH" means "delay"
in Hebrew) now brought him to the Promise Land in a year that should
have happened earlier ... his earlier delay therefore has created present
consequences ... FAMINE HITS … and he is here now during
it!
B. Clever!!
Gen. 12:11ff
1. Abram was about to make a
second mistake on his already earlier one!
The delay of leaving Haran now brought him to this land during a famine,
one he surely would have missed had he arrived in this land during the time he
was supposed to have left Ur ... his DELAY brought him a new temptation ... to
solve his problem and fear by shear human wisdom instead of trusting God to
provide!
2. This side trip to
3. These stages would later
prepare him for greater temptations!
4. Instead of turning to God in
his need during famine ... he turns to Egypt which was in the natural nearly
famine free due to the waters of the Nile -- this kept fertile lands along its
banks!
a. Turning to Egypt instead of
God was going to be costly, almost cost him his life and his
marriage!
ILLUS: It has
been said that rivers and men become crooked by following the line of least
resistance. -- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio:
Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
b. Sin has real price tags on
it! Don't kid yourself when Satan
advertises “FREE FOR THE TAKING ... YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY
WON!”
c. The only thing truly free in
this universe is God's gift of GRACE!
5. While Abram's logic is
flawless ... his character at this point wasn't!
II. TEMPTATION OF SELF!
Gen. 12:12-13
A. Carnal!
Gen.
12:12
1. Abram looks upon logic as his
savior in this situation!
2. The fact that Sarai was a
knockout at 65 indicates the natural beauty of a lady who knew how to take care
of herself.
3. Of course since they lived at
the time to around the age of 175 ... her 65 then was probably like our 35-40
now.
4. Abram’s scheme and solution
to this potentially life threatening situation is to do whatever he has to do to
save HIMSELF!
a. This is a good indicator that
we are on the wrong path to a solution for temptation!
b. The goal of a temptation is
not to save self ... but to show CHRIST-LIKE-NESS even to the point of self
sacrifice!
c. Setting "self" as the chief
importance of all things only makes "SELF" our own
God!
5. Abram's carnal approach to a
difficult situation would only bring grief to his own life ... and even to those
around him, INCLUDING STRANGERS & FAMILY!
6. How comforting this solution
must have seemed to Sarai! He was
asking her to not only lie about who she was ... but to allow herself to be
placed into a situation where she may easily be raped later ... all to save his
own skin!
7. Some things are more
important that just saving our own skin! There are values to live for and even to
die for!
ILLUS: Our train
rolled into Kansas City at 1 a.m. Dim lights came on to help the new passengers
find seats. Many of us who had been
riding home through the night had spread out to occupy two seats
apiece.
An attractive woman made her way
down the aisle with her bags. She
was looking from side to side, hoping for someone to move. I turned toward the window and watched
her in the reflection.
"May I sit here?" she
asked.
"Sure." I looked up and smiled as
I moved over. She threw her things
into the rack above and sat down.
Near the back of the car, only one of my colleagues had managed to keep
his extra space. Lucky
guy.
"My name's Kathy. What's yours?"
I told her, and we talked quietly
for a while. She was on her way to
visit her mother after some rough spats with her husband. I was eager to get home and see my wife
and family after an exhausting church leadership
conference.
Soon we had both slipped off to
sleep. At some later stop, I awoke
to find Kathy cuddled next to me.
"You don't mind if I lean my head on your shoulder, do you?" she said
sleepily.
"Uh, no. I guess not." She was just tired ... wasn't she? And besides, I had a wonderful wife and
a great marriage and would be home before noon. I looked around to see if anyone was
noticing.
She cuddled closer. I wondered what she really wanted -- or
would allow. At first I couldn't
believe what I was thinking. But
then it was her fault. She knew
exactly what she was doing. I might
as well enjoy it. After all, what
could happen on a train full of people?
Nothing, nothing really ... except what Jesus warned about happening in
the heart.
Finally, I excused myself so I
could go back and talk with my friend -- the "lucky" one with the empty seat
beside him. Or maybe I was the
lucky one since that extra space was still available. I only knew I didn't need to stay where
I had been.
Perhaps it wasn't luck at
all. Maybe that was
the "way of
escape" that 1 Corinthians 10:13 talks
about, which God had provided from the beginning. -- Dave Jackson in Leadership, Vol. 9, no.
1.
8. It is easy to know when a
nation is doomed to collapse ... these high values are gone and everyman is
looking out for #1 -- himself!
a. No matter whom you hurt ...
save yourself!
b. This is a person or country
that is fast approaching collapse!
c. Jesus gave the best example
of NOT saving self and in the process He made a way of salvation for
us!
d. "SELF" is not the highest
goal of life ... the denial of "SELF" should be!
B. Capitulate! Gen.
12:13
1. Abram capitulates to his
carnal nature, he asks Sarai to endanger her own life and their marriage to
protect his own life!
2. He knows this might not only
spare his life but result in riches for him, he was giving in to the logic of
the moment because of fear!
a. He might have thought, "What will I
gain by dying?"
b. Or ... "God promised me
the Promise Land ... this must be ok because it will keep me alive so later
God's Will can be done!"
c. There is a temptation by some
today to say, "Even if I do commit sin, God can use it later as a great
testimony to help others ... so it might be helpful in the
end!"
d. Paul probably answers this
type of logic the best in Rom 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under law but under grace? By no
means!”
3. Logic like this is NOT FROM
GOD ... but it sure sounded good!
4. Let's be honest ... Satan is
successful only because he is good at deception!
a. Like the logic I’ve heard
from some psychologists who say an affair can often improve a
marriage!
b. We are living in the days of
great lies ... the prophets of old said such would exist in the last days, "DECEIVED AND
BEING DECEIVED..."
c. This is a time when believers
need to be sure of their faith and STAND IN IT!
ILLUS: People do
not decide to be drunkards, drug addicts, prostitutes, murderers, or thieves,
but they pitch their tent toward
d. Sometimes the best LOGIC when
tempted is to RUN! FLEE!!!!!!
(1. 1 Cor.
(2. 1 Cor.
(3. 1 Tim.
6:10-11 “For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have
wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and
gentleness.”
5. Your success as a Christian
will be how well you stand up against temptations!
III. TEMPTATION OF STUFF! Gen. 12:14-20
A. Culture!
Gen.
12:14-15
1. The reason Abram came up with
this scheme was because he was familiar with the culture of Egypt and so he
argued with himself, "WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO!" (Or
a. You can hear Christians talk
like this today ... "well, everybody was doing it ... I didn't want to lose
their friendship or I would never have had the opportunity later to share Christ
with them, so we just did what they did!"
b. This is not a time to flow
with culture ... but to stand up with CHARACTER!
2. We are not of this earth, we
are not to accomplish Christ's goals by earthly means!
3. Just because some do
something doesn't mean you should, even if there are some Christians you know
that participate in questionable activities doesn't excuse your
participation!
4. This is the moment to SHOW
CHARACTER, NOT CULTURE!
5. Abram knew this plan would
result in SARAI'S possible situation of becoming a part of Pharaoh's
harem.
6. And after all ... IT WASN'T A
COMPLETE LIE, SHE WAS HIS HALF SISTER!
a. Boy is this good! He could lie while telling the
truth!
b. This kind of logic defies
God's logic but flows smoothly with Satan's!
c. Only carnal logic could
possibly say, “YOU CAN LIE BY USING SOME TRUTH or AS LONG AS I TELL SOME
TRUTH IT CAN'T BE COMPLETELY A LIE!”
7. When any deception is
involved to save your own skin you should know you are on shaky
ground!
ILLUS: In one
scene of the popular movie Robin Hood, The Prince of Thieves, Kevin Costner as
Robin comes to a young man taking aim at an archery target. Robin asks, "Can you
shoot amid distractions?"
Just before the boy releases the
string, Robin pokes his ear with the feathers of an arrow. The boy's shot flies high by several
feet.
After the laughter of those
watching dies down, Maid Marian, standing behind the boy, asks Robin, "Can
you?"
Robin Hood raises his bow and
takes aim. Just as he releases the
arrow, Maid Marian leans beside him and flirtatiously blows into his face. The arrow misses the target, glances off
the tree behind it, and scarcely misses a bystander.
Distractions come in all types,
and whether they are painful or pleasant, the result is the same: we miss God's
mark. -- Penney F. Nichols in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching
& Teaching (Baker), from the editors of
Leadership.
8. Perhaps ole Abe thought, "Well, by doing
this I will become rich ... perhaps I can buy the entire Promise Land when I get
back ... obviously this is how God is going to help me get it mortgage free!”
This certainly
would be logical!
a. Like all those Christians who
gamble the lottery promising God that they will pay off the Church's mortgage if
they win!
b. God is more concerned over your faithful and cheerful
giving in tithes now than what you might do by winning a lottery!
B. Compensation!
Gen.
12:16
1. Sure enough, plan "B" works!
(Plan "A" is always, TRUST
GOD!) Plan "B" is outfox the
fox!
ILLUS: At an
evangelistic meeting someone was converted. The next day one who was at the meeting
saw the newly converted man put his hand into a chicken coop. "Say," called the older Christian, "I
thought you were converted last night."
Of course, it was evident that he was about to steal a chicken. His answer was, "I was converted sir,
certainly I am, but I am just trying out the strength of my resolution." The wise reply of the older Christian
was, "It is safer to fight Satan on your own ground than on his." – Source Unknown
2. Abram becomes a rich man ...
while Sarai waits her turn in Pharaoh's harem to have a date with the Egyptian
leader – and thus lose her marital sexual sanctity thanks to Abram’s
scheme!
3. All the servants, gold,
camels, or wealth can not replace a loving healthy
marriage!
a. These "things" would not
solve Abram's woes ... they would increase them!
b. Too many people today are
trading their marriages for what they consider worthy compensation only to find
that these "THINGS" mean nothing once they have them, they are just as empty
when we have them as we were before we had them!
4. Don't buy into the world's
mentality that HAPPINESS comes from things!
5. You can be dirt poor and be
happy or filthy rich and be miserable!
a. Abram now has great wealth
... but no wife!
b. She is about to become
another man's wife by virtue of his half lie!
C. Caught!
Gen. 12:17-20
1. Fortunately God cares too
much about us to allow us to get away with sin!
a. Yes, in God's love God
exposes Abram's lie and old Abe has to experience
humiliation!
b. You know why God allows pain
to come our way when we sin ... because He loves us too much to let us go and
not learn ... the pain is to humble us so we have no choice but to trust in Him
again!
2. Now comes the tough part,
Abram's sin brings pain not only to his wife and himself, but to those who are
innocent by-standers!
a. Pharaoh is struck by horrible
diseases, and his entire household!
b. Our sins do affect other
people ... often bringing pain on innocent people!
c. Satan likes to make saints
believe they can sin and no one will be hurt!
3. So obvious is this plague on
the entire household of Pharaoh that even he can figure out something unusual
had just happened ... and the timing was oddly enough just when Abram showed up
and Sarai became a part of his harem!
a. This is the terrible side of
sin ... we can see this today with aids, there really are innocent people
suffering because of the sin of some others who are spreading a horrible plague
around from their loose lifestyles!
b. Homosexuals or heterosexuals
... it spreads principally through sex, mostly from multiple
partners!
c. This is truly one of the rare
times when a disease could be wiped out through sexual faithfulness in marriage
as God intended!
d. They say there is no cure ...
that is a lie, the cure is STAY FAITHFUL!
4. Abram's sin is exposed, as
most sin usually is as time goes on!
a. Pharaoh turns out to be more
valiant than Abram here; he quickly tells Abram to take his wife and keep the
gifts and LEAVE!
b. His nobility however probably
was helped along by a good dose of fear!
c. Usually the husband was
killed to keep the beautiful lady, but who would want her if it meant the whole
family was to be plagued by rampant diseases!
5. Pharaoh hurries Abram on his
way toward the land God told Abram to go to in the first
place!
6. Finally, Abram is back on
course ... but only after being caught in his own
folly!
7. Abram does learn from this
experience however, later he refuses the wealth of Sodom’s kings who he later
delivers ... no more seeking wealth from the hands of the ungodly for him! (At
least for now!)
ILLUS: One of the
ancient fathers, we are told, had lived with a woman before his conversion, and
a short time after she accosted him as usual. Knowing how likely he was to fall into
sin, he ran away with all his might, and she ran after him, crying, "Why do you
run away? It's only
me."
He answered, "I run away because I
am not myself. I am a new
man." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton:
Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
8. The experience was humbling;
this is what brought him back on course!
a. If the experience of being
caught in sin does not humble us we will only repeat the error
again!
b. It is a terrible thing to be
caught by sin.
c. Satan is an old snake ...
snakes are unique creatures, they have an ability of mesmerizing their prey so
that they simply stay in place too long ... then they strike quickly ... and
once caught in a snake’s mouth there is no way out! The fangs are tilted back at an angle so
that every wiggle or move, any attempt to get out only causes us to move deeper
into the snake's mouth until we are consumed ... in fact in nature when two
snakes strike a meal at the same time from opposites sides one of them will have
to eat the other because once they both have bitten into the prey and there is
no way to let go; as they both swallow they move toward each other until one of
them MUST be eaten by the other or they both would die! They never miss on a strike because
beneath their eyes they have heat sensors that let them zero in on the heat of
the victim ... that old serpent is still that way... he knows OUR "hot" spots
and if we stand still long enough when he stares us down, we will become
swallowed up and devoured by our inaction to flee in time from the
tempter!
9. God in His great love for
Abram gets him back on course, but there were lessons to remember, pain
inflicted, loss of marriage security for a time, and finally great humbling
before he got back on course ... costly lessons for what he got in
return!
a. Ironically all his wealth
never bought him an inch of land ... only God's promise fulfilled that, the only
piece of property Abram ever bought with his Egyptian wealth was a grave side
mountain called MACHPELAH from the Hittites (Gen. 23) for 400 shekels of silver ... an
unbelievable price, way too high but which Abram paid for out of his grief ...
he was taken advantage of!
b. So some of this wealth was
used to buy a place of death! Such
is sin when we yield ourselves to it!
CONCLUSION: Mastering temptation means
control over your life! “Better a … man
who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” (Prov. 16:32). Much of the "dross" in our lives can
be avoided by not yielding to temptation! Sin exacts a high price ... and leaves us
poorer as a result! We CAN avoid
much of the agony of sin by simply fleeing from temptation ... learning to say
NO!