The following is a transcript used for the basis of the sermon preached at GracePointe Church in Springtown, Texas on September 22, 2024.
Why are so many pastors falling (Satan). A recent
news story said there were 14 individuals who have resigned from churches due
to some sort of scandal over the summer in the DFW area alone. That is a
staggering number to me, but then I looked up that there are 5,842 Christian
non-profit centers in the Metroplex, including Fort Worth, meaning that the
number of churches affected represents 0.2 percent of all churches. One church
is too many but that equates to 2 out of every thousand congregations.
Someone has said that if there is a mist in the
pulpit, there will be fog in the pew. While that generally refers to confusion
over a biblical passage, I think the same truism could be related to moral
failures and falling in temptations. In other words, there are untold thousands
of moral failings and fallings in churches, and tens of thousands of failings
inside and outside the church.
If pastors of the pulpit are falling prey to
falling to temptation, what is going on with the people in the pew? There are
good and bad cops, good and bad teachers, construction workers, farmers, and
lord help us good and bad lawyers and politicians. At least I have heard of
good lawyers and politicians.
So, the title for my message is Have we trials and temptations? Absolutely! The title is taken from a hymn and the background to the hymn is as follows (found at this webpage )...
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In the vast canvas of historical figures, some
remain hidden in the background, their tales whispered among only a few. Joseph
Scriven is one such name. His life was a complex tapestry of faith intertwined
with profound sadness.
Early Life of Humility and Service
Born in Ireland on September 10, 1819, to an
affluent family. He grew up as a noble man with a heart of mercy, always
looking to help the destitute. A story is told of him where a man looks at him
carrying a wood saw and a sawhorse, “That looks like a sober man,” the man
exclaimed. “I think I’ll hire him to cut wood for me.” The response from the
other man was, “That’s Joseph Scriven. He wouldn’t cut wood for you because you
can afford to hire him. He only cuts wood for those who don’t have money enough
to pay.” Joseph was a devoted man of the Plymouth Brethren Church. A man of
high aspirations who was regarded with favor among all those he met. He
graduated from Trinity College in Dublin.
Tragedy Strikes
While still in Ireland, he got engaged to be
married to his childhood love. He had great hopes of a family who would serve
the Lord together. Tragedy struck his life as his bride-to-be accidentally
drowned the night before their wedding. She fell from her horse while crossing
a bridge over the River Bann. Joseph arrived seconds later only to find her
knocked out, drowned in the river. Her death was swift. He described his sorrow
this way: “The bottom of my world seemed to disappear.”
A Man Acquainted with a Heavy Heart
This led to a life of depression, sorrow, and
devotion. Like so many others who wrestle with God emotionally, he held his
head above water and continued to walk with Jesus and serve the Lord. He
wandered the land to ease his pain and traveled across the Pacific. He became a
leader of a Plymouth Brethren fellowship and started a school for orphans in
Canada. He would often read the Bible to railway construction workers who were
building the Grand Trunk Railway across the Canada West. He was known to all for
his selfless service, his continued battle with physical ailments, and his
heavy heart.
Unrelenting Storms of Life
In 1857, at the age of 38, he moved near Port
Hope, Ontario where he fell in love again with the 23-year-old aunt of a young
child he was tutoring. Her name was Eliza. They were promptly due to be
married. His pain was briefly abated with the renewed prospect of a family. But
in August 1860 his fiancée fell ill with pneumonia and unexpectedly died.
Even through this, Scriven continued to serve all
those who were in need. He was known for never turning down anyone who needed
help. He was often sick with bodily ailments. These plagued him his whole life.
But he was devoted to walking with the Lord. Even though he was a man with deep
spiritual wounds, he never stopped groping for his confidence that Jesus was a
friend who would never leave him.
One day a close companion was visiting and
happened across a poem on Joseph’s bedside table. He asked him who wrote it.
Joseph said, “The Lord and I did it between us.” The poem was titled “Pray
Without Ceasing.” He wrote it for his mother, believing the poem would bring
some spiritual comfort to his mum, who lay ill in Ireland. He had not intended
that anyone else should see it.
“Take Me Home”
Later in life, he was very ill with a fever and
had been brought to a friend’s home to recover. This friend observed Joseph
prostrate on the ground, imploring God for something. Soon his friend realized
that he was asking Jesus to take him home. His companion was not overly alarmed
as it was typical for Joseph to break down in such ways. Later that night, it
was very hot. Joseph may have gone outside to cool down, or to get a drink of
cold water from the spring. His friend reported, “We left him about midnight. I
withdrew to an adjoining room to watch and pray. You may imagine my surprise
and dismay when upon visiting his room I found it empty. All searches failed to
find a trace of the missing man until a little after noon his body was
discovered in the nearby river, lifeless and cold in death.”
It was never determined whether his death was
accidental or a suicide. He was buried in an unmarked grave.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
The poem entitled “Pray Without Ceasing” was soon
changed to “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” It became one of the most popular
Christian hymns of all time.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.
Are You Weak and Heavy-Laden?
Amidst life’s darkest
storms, the story of Joseph Scriven stands as a testament to the enduring faith
of a man acquainted with loss and a man who held Jesus’ hand until the end.
You’re not alone in your struggles, and like Joseph, you too can find peace and
purpose amidst the pain. Hang on. Joseph’s life encourages us to look beyond
our sorrows and see the broader tapestry of life, where faith, service, and
love intertwine to bring comfort and hope to our souls. I know it is hard, but
take it to the Lord in prayer and pray without ceasing.
You and I are undoubtedly
victors as well as victims from some of the spiritual skirmishes, and today we
will examine specifically and explicitly what the Bible says we can do emerge
from these battles as victors rather than victims.
****
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 12 Therefore
let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No
temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you
are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you
may be able to bear it.
Dear Lord Jesus, we come to you today as you are
the Son of Man as well as the Son of God. You know what it was like to walk
this world in the flesh. You faced down temptations and spiritual oppositions
on all sides and as a result you are certainly more than able to come to the
aid of those who are fighting the battle. There are more dangers and
distractions today than ever in my lifetime and perhaps greater than even in
the history of humanity. Please God, use Your word and the preparations I have
made in this sermon to come to the aid of myself, our members, and anyone who
is struggling to be victorious in the spiritual battles with the wiles of the
devil. In the mighty and majestic name of Jesus I pray, amen.
Our passage today begins with that very rich,
respected and significant word of Therefore. I firmly believe that the
Old and New Testaments are very relevant in our lives. The Therefore in
this passage is referring to the previous 12 verses which state that the Old
Testament examples are given to us so that we can learn from them. So are the
examples from the Gospels and the New Testament. In Paul’s final epistle to
Timothy, he said that ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed for our teaching
(DOCTRINE), our reproving or rebuking from what is bad, our correction to what
is good, and our training in right living.
Look to Job for patience. Look to David for praise
and worship. Look to Solomon and proverbs for wisdom. Look to Joseph on
handling adversity. Look to Abraham for faith. Look to Deborah for how to lead
as a woman. Look to Hannah for prayer. Look to Esther for Courage, to Mordecai
for guidance for the family and yes look to Nehemiah to see how teamwork makes
the dreamwork.
Having explained what that therefore is there for,
let’s look at verse 12.
#1 Be Humble. Point number 1 in your struggle with temptation,
in steps to being a victor rather than a victim, is first of all BE HUMBLE.
2C10:12 does not say that this can happen to you, but rather this WILL
happen to you. Every church member. Every attender. Every child. Every deacon,
teacher, every staff member.
Humility is at the heart of true discipleship
because humility is at the heart of who Jesus is. No, Jesus did not fall in
temptation, but he certainly FACED it and won the battle. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29 that he was lowly
and humble in heart and before we point our finger at a fallen, failing,
faithless sinner, we should pray to God and look to Jesus and say, “Lord
Jesus vanquish pride from my heart.”
1a. How
can we be humble? 1st Look to Jesus. They say never go
grocery shopping when you are hungry. The same can be said about fighting
temptation. Find a righteousness fulfillment from Jesus. Stay in the Word. Stay
in Prayer. Stay in Church. Seek the Holy Spirit’s filling. When you look to
Jesus, and are seeking the Holy Spirit’s filling, He will not lead you into
temptation.
1b. Identify your enemy. Humility comes when we see that easily besetting
sin is lurking at the door of our hearts. Before Cain killed Abel, God said sin
was crouching and lurking at the door of his heart, waiting to pounce and
spring into action. Sin is lying before you and lying to you, desiring and
lusting after your heart and the first invitation you can give to your
temptations is to deny that it is there. Hebrews 12:1 says “Let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.”
Jeremiah 6:14 says, “You can’t heal a wound by
saying it’s not there!” Call it out by name. Don’t deny it. Identify it.
Pride is the root with many fruits. Greed. Lust.
Selfishness. Arrogance. Laziness. Gluttony. Atheism. Agnosticism. When Jesus
met the demonized man at the Decapolis, He asked what His name was to identify
the sin. When you identify your sin by name, it’s easier to defeat it. Identify
it for what it is EVIL. Only then can he deliver you from evil, when you
identify it.
You know I would love to tell you that I have
really defeated the sin of pride, but to be honest, I am way too humble to brag
about that!!
Seriously, get over yourself and your righteous
indignation about the sins and failures of other and pray to God that you would
not fall.
2. Don’t bring a knife or a gun to a spiritual
fight . Take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5). When an
ungodly thought, a worrisome fear, a lying spirit comes to mind, cast it out,
cast it down to the pit of hell where it came from. What tempting strongholds
are in your mind? Look at verse 4. With the right weapons, we can pull down
those strongholds. What are those weapons?
2a. Scripture meditation. If I were to tell you to memorize verses, you
probably wouldn’t do it, so really more important than memorization is
meditation. It means saying it over and over again until it goes from your head
to the heart. Do you struggle with envy, desires, being discontent. Meditate on
1 Tim. 6:8 “having food and clothing, with these we shall be
content.” Heb. 13:5 “be content with such things you have.” 1
Tim. 6:6 says “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
2b. Break curses. You know we believe in blessings. We say God
bless you. We speak blessings. But some of you have curses put on you, even
from childhood. “You’ll never change!”
Curses can be broken! “You’re just like your father.” “You’ll never
amount to anything.”
1) First, let Jesus free you. As a believer, your
chains are gone, you’ve been set free, but like Otis the drunk on the Andy
Griffith show, you take the key and lock yourself up. When Jesus preached in
his home town, He quoted Isa. 61:1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on
me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and
release from darkness for the prisoners.”
Jesus’s hometown crowd was no advantage. They started
putting curses on Him, saying, you’re
just a carpenter’s son. but He wouldn’t let them and neither should you.
2c. Reverse
the curse with blessings. Bless those who curse you and not with “bless
your heart”. When Satan or demons or people try to curse you and you bless in
return, pretty soon, Satan will stop
cursing you.
Remember Balam and his donkey? Balak wanted to
curse on Israel, so he hired the prophet Balaam. But every time Balaam went to
curse Israel, God put blessings instead of curses in Balaam’s mouth. Four times
this happened and finally Balak gave up. Get rid of temptation by reversing the
cursings in your life.
1. Be Humble
2. Use Your Weapons
3. Submit to God & Resist the
devil. That sounds silly, because it’s so simple. It’s not silly, it’s
not simple, but it is Scriptural. “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will
flee.”
When you give in to temptation, the temptation
will stronger, and you’ll get weaker. But if you resist, just for a minute, an
hour, a day, you will find that you get stronger, and the temptation gets
weaker. Remember the first part though: Submit to God. Submission and resistance.
This formula is found in 1 Peter 5:6-9 “Therefore
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” that’s obviously the
humility part. “that He may exalt you in due time,” That’s using
his weapons, His power. “7 casting all your care upon
Him, for He cares for you.” This is submitting to God. 8 Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him,
steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by
your brotherhood in the world.
This is where partners come in. Ecclesiastes 4:9
says, 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good
reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift
up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to
lift him up!... 12 though a man might prevail against one who
is alone, two will withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.