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With the Temptation
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone SDA Church, CA, USA
Delivery: 2008-05-25 00:23Z
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2008-05-25 00:23Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kirl-withtt.php
Today, back to basics. Jesus warned us that a day would come when men’s hearts fail them for fear of the things coming upon the world. The changes today are numerous and large. People approach the challenge of uncertain times in different ways. One way is via survivalism. Recently I read an article where one survivalist was giving advice to others—advice about how to fight.
Don’t waste your time learning the long flying kicks you see in the movies, he said; don’t go in for intricate choreographed moves. You need practical, basic skills. When you are in a fight that is what you need. And while you did not start this fight, you are engaged in a battle to the death for your own soul. You are being attacked by the forces of evil. It is right to defend yourself.
And so, it is back to basics. Today, consider a simple text. You have heard the promise, but you can understand it better. First Corinthians 10:13:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
We are going to move carefully through this precious promise, but first, some context and some insights from that context.
All Were Helped By Christ
Look closely at verses 1-4. You may see some patterns: two items at the first, one in the middle, and two at the last part of the section. First, in verses 1 and 2, there is this idea that they were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
The cloud reminds us of God’s steady leading. Day by day they were protected from the heat; the cloud was there; God was faithful. Eventually, there came a time of extreme duress, extraordinary deliverance: the Red Sea crossing. With their backs to the sea, and Pharaoh’s army approaching, God was faithful.
Then, look at verses 3 and 4. Here we are reminded of the spiritual food that they ate—the manna, and the spiritual drink they drank—the water that flowed from the rock. Again we have the steady part—manna six days a week, year in, year out. God is faithful. Then we have the momentous, unique part, Moses striking the rock and water coming out. Again, God is faithful.
Now in the middle of all this, the third statement was that they were baptized into Moses by the cloud and by the sea. The idea of being baptized is only found in the middle of the five items. Indeed, there is a pattern here on either side: the steady and then the miraculous.
At the center of this we have this “baptized into Moses.” Now, no one was baptized into Moses; baptism does not begin until 12 centuries after Moses, with John the Baptist. But here it is. What was baptism to the hearers of 1 Corinthians? Almost certainly just what Paul said about it in other places, like Romans 6. Baptism stands for death of the old and rebirth of the new; the end of the old life of failure and the arrival of the new life of victory. Paul makes the experience of the Hebrews in leaving Egypt and journeying through the wilderness a figure of the Christian walk. The baptism into Moses is the experience of living a life of increasingly steady following of God. Most of the time, our experience is steady, like the cloud ever overhead, daily protecting from heat. But we also will have those unusual occasions of distinct danger and deliverance, like the passage through the Red Sea, like the rock struck by Moses and the water gushing out.
The baptism into Moses is the experience of the believer as he leaves behind the slavery of Egypt and strengthens in his journey to Canaan. God is growing His people. There is the steady dew of the morning and the occasional emergency of the storm; both aspects of experience are necessary. God is faithful. He will be with us through the seemingly steadier days and in the emergencies. Our business is to be under the cloud and to walk through on dry ground when God opens the sea. With the experience comes His help to endure and to escape failure.
Now, let’s review the promise. Then, at last, we will finish with the five failures . . .
Your Challenges Are Nothing New
In moments of frustration, we must beware our own little traps. One such pitfall is to plead that our situation is too hard, is unnaturally difficult, not fair. The slippery part is that when we make this claim, we are laying the groundwork for failure. If God permits a test that is too hard, then, we reason, if unconsciously, that there are extenuating circumstances, and if we fail, the onus does not rest—not completely anyway—on us, but, in part, on God. He let one get through—one that was too hard for us. The reason then for our childish failure was that our heavenly Parent failed.
At such times, remember this word. There are no exceptions; you are not a special case; God has not forgotten you. On the contrary, He has remembered you. Beware the siren song in yourself that says that its OK to sin because God permitted you to experience a temptation that was too strong for you. The very thought is a self-deception. No matter how powerful and overwhelming it seems, it is not more powerful than God’s power; it is not inevitably overwhelming. Far from it! More on this as we proceed.
God is Faithful
When we face temptation, the question is not whether we are faithful. We all know the truth; time after time we have demonstrated unfaithfulness. Our promises to God are like ropes of sand. On our own we have repeatedly failed. And so, the question is not about our faithfulness.
One of the most essential ideas in Christian thought is that God is faithful. He is faithful. He has demonstrated His faithfulness; that is what the first lines of this chapter are about. When Israel was unfaithful, He was faithful.
These are examples for us (verses 6, 11). That is, not the wicked behavior of so many, but the fact that so many had an experience with Christ and yet turned back from God. All Israel was tested in the wilderness, but not all turned back. Not all fell to lusting, idolating, fornicating, etc., and yet, many, many did. Yes indeed, there is a warning here for us. God did not cause them to produce these bad examples but when they did produce them He kept it in the record preserved for us. And let there be no mistake, “these things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (verse 11).
After reciting the history of Israel in the wilderness comes the warning: “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (verse 12). It is immediately after this that the promise of verse 13 is introduced. All these lines are one piece. We should not see the promise of 13 without the history of 1-11 and the warning of 12. And we should see the whole history and the promise remembering “God is faithful.”
When Temptation Takes You
Paul is not meaning “temptation takes you” as in temptation takes you down to defeat. Rather, he speaks of when temptation comes to your experience. And it comes to everyone’s experience. It is not when temptation takes you but where it takes you that matters.
You must decide whether you will succumb or prevail. The steering wheel, the brakes, the accelerator, are all in your control. God has even given you a GPS system so that you can see exactly where you are headed. He would like to help you navigate to victory.
Not Tempted Beyond Your Ability
The Bible here promises that He “He will not suffer ye to be tempted above that ye are able.” Here, some make a mistake. They see God as standing in the way, blocking the temptation. They feel that when any temptation that outclasses you comes into your pathway it is prevented from being exercised upon you.
In other words, here is the scenario: You are living your life and Satan throws temptation A at you. God does not intervene, you prevail, and then Satan throws temptation B at you. Same deal. In God’s power, you defeat temptation B. Same with C. But when Satan throws temptation D at you, God intervenes in reality, He changes circumstances such that temptation D is prevented from entering your experience because He has determined that that temptation is above your ability. You would fail upon meeting it, you would sin, and so He stops it from materializing. Temptation D never happens because God would not let it happen.
This is a mistaken understanding.
With the Temptation
Let us consider more closely what God has said. Hear it again: He “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” There is nothing here about an intervention so that the temptation is prevented. Rather, with the temptation God provides help. God does not stand in front of you blocking strong temptations, but He helps you find the way to defeat each temptation that comes and help you to grow in your experience.
The key idea here is, “but will with the temptation.” With the temptation He makes a way to escape. Not to escape the test, but to escape failure in the test. And with the test he provides what we need for overcoming, for success.
This is a different picture than the first one we considered. In this one, Satan throws temptation A and it comes to you, and with the temptation God provides help. Satan throws temptation B and it comes to you, and with the temptation God provides help. Satan throws temptation C and it comes to you, and with the temptation God provides help. Satan throws temptation D and it comes to you, and with the temptation God provides help. And so it goes.
We confirm this by keeping in mind the last portion of the statement: “that ye may be able to bear it.” The way this all works is that God helps the Christian successfully endure. The test is not removed, but the person tested is helped.
How does God help? He provides what we need. Is it power? Let us choose to unite our weakness to His strength. Is it wisdom? Let us unite our foolishness with His knowledge. Is it emotional instability? Let us choose to unite our mind with His mind. Is it unbelief? Then let us pray, “I believe, please help my unbelief!” Whatever we need, Jesus has. Whatever we lack, He will give. But we must ask. Asking is all-important. Asking means engaging our will on the side of God, realizing the kingdom in our own lives; not a manipulation of God but a reception of His help. His promise is, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). The next verse affirms that all who ask, receive, all who seek, find, to those who knock, the way is opened. This is how we may prevail in temptation.
Some Were Overthrown
Finally, let’s take a few minutes with the list of five temptations by which some in Israel was overthrown: the lust of evil thoughts, idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, and murmuring.
Remember that Israel is presented as an example. Often, the example is what not to do. Let us be reminded again that 1 Corinthians’ first 11 verses point us to Israel. Led by Christ, they faced temptation together, and God made a way for them. Israel need not have failed.
How did they fail? They “were overthrown” (v. 5). But how is a man overthrown? Does he stupidly forget that he shouldn’t do something? Does he forget that something is immoral? A man is overthrown when he is drawn away by his own desire (James 1:14). Now God gave us the capacity to desire; the capacity in itself is not bad. Nor is desire in itself bad. But we are given also a conscience, and the help of God’s Word and also the Holy Spirit. We are not left ignorant of right and wrong.
We are stewards over our own desires. They may seem to be spontaneous but that is more because we are conditioned to think of them that way than because of reality. Popular songs urge us that we cannot fight our feelings. Television commercials sell by the sizzle, they combine song and imagery to evoke feeling in order to provoke you to buy he product. But you can resist; you do it all the time. You are in control of your emotions. There is a reason why you can walk through the cookie aisle and the chip aisle and the ice cream aisle at the store and not empty the shelves into your cart. And if that is very difficult you can chose to bypass those aisles. You are in control of your desires. You suppress them all the time. You might very hot and uncomfortable when it is 105 degrees in the park, but you do not pull all your clothes off. You have the power. Likewise, when you need to use a restroom, you wait until that is possible. You have self-control.
Self-control does not just come and go. It is with you all the time. Therefore, you are accountable for your behavior all the time. You must voluntarily consent to engage in a behavior. Why then do you consent to be overthrown? Because that is just exactly what these Hebrews did in the wilderness: they consented to be overthrown. They refused to control their desires. God is faithful, but they refused His help.
His help is given in small, steady ways. The struggles we are engaged in may be epic, but His help comes mostly in the quiet and simple ways. Recall Elijah. Yes, there was the mountaintop show down, but most of the time there was the still, small voice. God comes to work with us as we silently pray. He comes as we quietly read His Word. He comes to us through the gentle encouragement and counsel of others. He comes to us through our morning devotions, our private evening self-examination. The skies do not usually open and the flame of fire descending from heaven does not usually announce His availability or His work. It is quiet, silent even, mundane, imperceptible, but real. If we reject the straightforward helps He gives, we will be overthrown.
Points of Failure
Consider their points of failure. Lusting after evil things would include their insistence upon food like they had eaten in Egypt (Numbers 11:4, 5, 13, 18-20; 30-33). They not only insisted on flesh food, but they despised God’s provision. They did not like His manna, preferring Egyptian food to heavenly. Here was a health message, a change of diet, one that would uplift them from their degradation. But habit is strong and the line of least resistance is to return to past practices. God provided the manna. With the temptation to eat Egyptian-style, He provided a healthy alternative. But there was an attitude problem and they refused the way of escape.
Idolatry is seen especially in the case of the golden idol they made (Exodus 32:1-35). “Up,” they said, “let us make us gods which shall go before us.“ Impatiently they waited for Moses to come down from the mount. Or maybe it was more of an excuse. The temptation was to worship according to what they had known in Egypt, to insist on a physical but inanimate representation of God. They thought the God of monotheism was interchangeable with the gods of polytheism. Any God or gods will do. Their leader was up in the mountain with God all the time, but they could not wait even a few days. Almost immediately they sought to change gods. The way of escape was to wait patiently for God to send Moses back to them; to recognize the difference of the God who led them out of Egypt. He was real.
Fornication was the result. “And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:6). See how they made their religion an opportunity for sexual immorality. The picture is one of dancing, reveling, nakedness, and orgy (Exodus 32:6, 7, 17-19, 22, 25).
How easily even today it is to make religion a justification for sexual immorality. Keep your eyes and your hearts careful. Let your interest and attentions be set upon your spouse and your spouse alone. Men and women, keep yourselves attractive to each other during the week. We dress to look our best out of reverence for God when we come to church, but we must beware. During the week you see your spouse looking more mundane, but on Sabbath, here we are, men dashing and manly, ladies clean and feminine. Guard your marriage; maintain your purity. If unmarried, wait for God; He will guide you. Seek a godly spouse. Church is not a hunting ground for flesh but a garden for spirit. It is interesting how our view of God leads to certain kinds of behavior. If we see Him high and lifted up, we will be led to a higher morality. If we see him as just another pagan deity, or as uninterested or unreachable, our behavior will demonstrate it. Instead of holiness there will be sin.
Tempting Christ was another experience in the wilderness. Time after time the people were shown God’s mighty works, but tempted God.
Because all those men which have seen My glory, and My miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it (Numbers 14:22, 23).
When God shows us the way to go, and we refuse to hear it, that is tempting Him. Notice, the land was promised, but the sin of consistently tempting Christ led to their dispatch in the wilderness. The road to Canaan became their cemetery.
Now we come to murmuring. Time and again they murmured against Moses. But the real facts are offered by Moses:
What are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord (Exodus 16:8).
We live in a toxic age. In any given hour a hundred tongues are wagging over the airwaves complaining about just about everything that could be spoken of. If we listen we ourselves will become contaminated by this culture of complaint. What counsel is there for us?
Do all things without murmurings and disputings (Philippians 2:14).
If we are going to control our thoughts, we will have to take charge of our thinking and of our behavior. We must choose a corrective course of action and then act upon it day in and day out. Be proactive against this culture of murmuring by encouraging godly habits of thought and talk. Do not engage in habitual complaint. That is murmuring. If possible, speak directly to the persons involved. Then, speak with tact and straightforwardness. When you have completed the communication, do not persist in chattering about the matter at length to others. There is a time to let a matter go.
Conclusion
God is faithful. He stands behind His promise. He promises that with the temptation He will provide the means for victory. We need a steady experience, a faithful experience. He will help us.
In a sense, we today are in the wilderness. We are choosing our way; we are at risk of being overthrown. Temptations, testings will come; we cannot stop them. But we must not see only the temptation. Every occasion is an opportunity for victory, because God’s promise is that “with the temptation” He will provide us the means for spiritual triumph. GCO
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