After The Storm

Introduction

Good morning. I’m sure each of us is familiar with the phrase, the devil is in the details. To me, that has a certain connotation in that it means the devil’s in the overlooked details. Anyone who’s been a part of any type of event planning or even people gathering realizes it’s the one thing that you don’t plan for, or that you really forget to plan if we’re being honest, that ends up being the devil of your event. Well, certainly the story of a preacher applies here. One preacher was organizing the young men for a service that involved those who were ages about 10 to 13. And he went up to them on what I’m sure was a front pew and told them before the service started, he said, Now, what you’re going to do is you go up and you speak into the microphone loud and clear.

You if you’re singing, you sing loudly and boldly because you’re singing praises to God. If you’re reading, you read the scripture as if it is the word of God because it is. And you make sure that you do the best you can, look good, close your jacket, and everything will be okay. Sounds like good advice. Well, the kid, the first kid came up, and he started the service off with some announcements, and he went and sat back down. But then the song leader came up. The song leader led his songs, and when he was done, after doing a wonderful job, he went and he stood off to the side. And he just stood there. So the kid who was supposed to pray came up next, and he led his prayer.

And when he was done, he looked over at the boy and went over and he stood right next to him. And by the end of it, there were seven boys standing somewhere up in the pulpit area. And so certainly we understand that the devil is in those details when asked the kids, the first kid, the song leader was said, Why were you standing there? He said, simply, I didn’t know what to do. They just told me how to get up there and do what I was told to do. They didn’t mention coming back down. And so, of course, there wasn’t thorough instruction. And so if you’ve been here the past month and a half over the 9 a.m. services, when I’ve had the opportunity to speak, we’ve been discussing what to do in the eye of temptation.

We discussed, first of all, what to do in preparing for the inevitable temptation in your life that is to come. Then we talked about what to do in temptation. And in the very nature and making sure that we are thorough this morning, we will speak about what to do in the eye of temptation, but more specifically, how to recover from the storm of temptation. This morning, I think it’s best to start with the success. Because success needs to be our norm. We certainly mentioned that in preparing for the eye of temptation. We need to be expecting to overcome sin, expecting to stand up for what is right. And perhaps more importantly, expecting to be the soldiers for Christ that God expects us to be.

1. Rejoice Primarily in the Lord

Things are possible. We must apply that principle to our lives. Understand and expect to be successful in temptation, to be successful in pushing off the devil. And certainly as we grow older, success should increase. Whether due to wisdom or experience of even falling to the very same temptation, we should be able to build off of our experiences and walk ever closer to the calling that God has truly sent for us to be on. And that is both a challenge to us and a cause to rejoice. And that should be our first reaction to success after temptation is over. We should rejoice. Picture this situation with me, if you will. You’ve been on a diet for four months, a casual diet, not one of those really stringent ones.

And you’ve made it four months. Yeah, you’ve had some slip-ups. You had a chocolate bar here and there. You had a Coke slushy here and there. Of course, you had some of mama’s home cooking here and there. And so you’re doing really well, though. You’ve dropped your sizes, and you’re just one size away from your ideal suit size or dress size or whatever it is that you’re trying to fit into. And then you come to church that Sunday, and someone mentions to you those three dreaded words that make anyone who has ever been on a diet’s blood chill. Church potluck today. What do you do? Well, when the individuals have gathered to go to the potluck, you’re going to be surrounded by chicken that will torture you.

You’re going to be in agony over the potatoes. You’re going to have to put up and deal with all the soda and of course all the wonderfully prepared desserts. But what are you going to do? Well, let’s say that you make it through. You are somehow able to withstand even the good fruit and the good, more importantly, vegetables and snack foods that are presented at a church potluck. What will you do then? Well, you will rejoice. You will be excited because you overcame the utmost food temptation. You would be ecstatic. You would tell your friends and your family, I made it, I made my size, because the next day, lo and behold, you have dropped the size that you needed. You have dropped all the excess weight.

You worked really hard for it. You made it. And so you would rejoice. But how much more significant than losing weight or fitting into a nice suit or dress should we be excited about and victorious in our nature in our battle with sin? We should rejoice in the victory of temptation the same way, and more so. Read the text with me in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7, Paul is perhaps reflecting on his life that he has lived. And he tells Timothy, he writes to him here, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Read that again. Verse 7. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. That’s not ho hum. That’s joy. That’s excitement. He looked at his battles with temptation. He looked at his life. He said, I did it. And he was excited because of it, and he was able to rejoice. It’s been said that we need to rejoice in winning the little battles, because that will result in our confidence to, in fact, win the great war. And while rejoicing is certainly good for us, it is helpful to boost our confidence and to be able to withstand further or worse temptations down the down the line. We need to realize this morning we should rejoice primarily in the Lord.

Just like junk food doesn’t control us, we choose what we wish to consume. Sin does not have to be a part of our lives. Sin doesn’t have to be an inevitable part of our life because of our strength, though. We don’t have to not sin because of how strong or good a Christian I am. It is about Christ who lives in us. It is about God who cares for us. Think about 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, he will provide also a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Think about your battles with temptation with me for this one moment.

Did you ever think that you could make it through? Perhaps you did. But on those really difficult times when it was very hard, and you somehow made it through, certainly you were happy, yes. But did you say, Yes, I did it? No, we thank God. Yes, you found the way of escape. Yes, you even took it, as difficult as it was, but God provided it. Think about what Paul writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, in verses 3 through about 8. He talks about leaning on the brothers and sisters, sharing in their suffering in Christ so that they could share in comfort in the Lord. Have you ever leaned on your brothers and sisters in Christ? Have you ever leaned on your spouse or a friend or a trusted loved one?

Certainly, you took that action. Certainly you lovingly nurtured that relationship to have it there. But brothers and sisters, God gave you that relationship. God provides our way out. Yes, we use the people. Yes, we love them. Yes, we found the way of escape, but God gave us everything we need. God’s the one who provides the way of escape. God’s the one who gives us someone to share in our comfort. And God is the only one who will get us through. And so we should rejoice that God has the wisdom and the foresight and the grace and mercy to make all that available to us. And certainly we should rejoice in our own personal victory over sin. But ultimately, the utmost rejoicing should be done in the Lord.

2. Get Off the Fence

The second step in following success with a battle of temptation is to get off the fence. Present success does not actually indicate future victory. Yes, it can, but certainly not always.

Her parents kept telling her, Allie, do not run on the pool deck. You will slip and fall. And so she would stop and she’d walk and get back in the water. And a couple days later, she was running in the dad. Even the dad this time said, Allie, do not run on the pool deck. I’m doing this for your benefit. You’re gonna fall. And then the third time she’s running and she slips and she falls. And of course, the little girl cries and is hurt. Now, was that a smart decision by Allie to run on the pool deck? No. She slipped and fell. It’s proof. But what about before she fell? Was it a smart decision then? What if she had run on the pool deck 11 times and had not slipped even once?

Didn’t even think about falling. It didn’t even cross her mind. She kept both feet firmly on the ground at all times somehow. Would it still have been a smart decision? No, of course not. We need to realize that our faith, just like running on the pool deck, should not be pushed to its boundary, to its limits all the time. Yes, we can withstand temptation. Yes, we could have made it through, and in this case, we’re talking about success. Yes, you did it. Yes, you overcame the devil here. But why keep pushing yourself? Why leave yourself in the same situation that it involved you almost falling short of the glory of God, almost losing your soul, being separated from the face of God. Why would we risk that?

Even after success, we need to flee. The Bible is very clear about the concept of fleeing. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 18. We are to flee sexual immorality. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 14, we should flee idolatry. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 11, Paul says, Timothy, flee these things, referring to both greed and or false doctrine. And in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 22, we’re going to flee youthful passions. We should be fleeing. We should be getting off the fence. Yes, it can happen. Yes, God will provide a way of escape. But you also have to help ourselves a little bit. It’s not God’s job to be pushing us up the whole time we continue to run around the pool deck.

3. Recommit to God

It’s not God’s job to carpet it so that we can keep ignorantly doing whatever it is that almost caused us to fall in the first place. If we want to be true Christians, if we want to be true disciples of God and be able to withstand temptation, part of the aftermath is getting back to the preparing. We have to be prepared for the fact that Satan is going to come after us. And if we keep running on the pool deck, we’re just raising the odds of running on the pathway to eternal damnation. And yes, Satan will be there, which makes this final point about how to deal with temptation in the aftermath of success to recommit to God. After all, isn’t the easiest way to injure someone when their guard is down?

When you can sneak up on them when they’re not preparing their shields, when they’re not mentally up for it, when they’re very tired, their brain isn’t working as fast as it as it could be and does during the day.

Look with me in Luke chapter 4 and verse 13. In Luke chapter 4 and verse 13. It’s immediately following the context of Jesus being directly tempted by the devil in the wilderness. And if your blood wasn’t chilled, when I mentioned the church potluck earlier in comparison to having being on a diet, read this verse with me here. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Doesn’t that send shivers down your spine? The devil departed from him, yes. Jesus withstood temptation, yes. But he departed from him until an opportune time. Satan is out there to get us. His primary focus, his entire goal is to get us to slip up and fall. He’s going to come back. And if we are too busy reveling in our own success, he will catch us with failure, and we will have no shot at withstanding that storm.

Satan is looking, he’s waiting, he’s watching. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8 says, we as Christians need to be sober minded and be watchful. Why? Because our adversary, the devil, prowls around seeking someone to devour. Who is he seeking? God’s people. What’s he waiting for? The opportune time. We must not grant it. We must always be on guard. We must always be sober minded. Being watchful. Being soldiers of Christ means you never sleep. Just like the soldiers in the time of Gideon. The ones who were kept in his army were those who were looking up. Ever prepared for an attack. Will you be his prey? After all the victory, after all the excitement, after withstanding the direct temptation of Satan, will you make it that easy for him?

Will you be so happy with your success that you don’t prepare for the next battle? We must be prepared, brothers and sisters, because whether we like it or not, Satan is coming for us, and the less we like it, the more he’ll come. And so to assure this doesn’t happen. We need to rejoice in God. Thank him for getting us through it. Trust in his grace and his mercy to continue to watch out for us. Trust that God is faithful and that he will continue to provide a way of escape. We need to get off the fence. Get away from whatever temptation just ailed you. Don’t put yourself in that situation again. And of course, recommit yourself to God. But unfortunately, it seems that when we are tempted, there’s all too often a result of failure.

4. Stop the Bleeding

Perhaps the first step after the aftermath, the failure of a temptation, is to stop the bleeding. If you will open your Bible and place a marker there in 2 Samuel chapter 11. We’ll be in the chapter 11 and chapter 12 the remainder of this morning. Perhaps the best and the worst example of how we should approach the aftermath of sin, of falling short of the glory of God, is found in King David. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we understand in beginning in verse 3, and David sent and inquired about the woman, and one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness, then she returned to her house, and the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, I am pregnant.

David committed an atrocious sin of adultery. He saw it. He wanted it. He took it. And certainly we understand that Satan offers us temptation, and we understand that we even take it. But perhaps most disturbing is what he does next. Look in verse 14. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him that he may be struck down and die. Of course, this is after David was attempting to set Uriah up to cover his sin. David added to a sin of adultery by writing the order for this man’s murder. He made a critical error in judgment. That error was to choose to try and fix his sin himself.

Have you ever struggled with that? To me, it’s like the person who walks into quicksand and you thrash around and you try to free yourself, but you’re only gaining more and more hold within the quicksand itself. You continue to go to your own demise, trying to thrash your way out of it. Wouldn’t it be much safer to wait and try to get help? To wait for someone to pull you out if they’re standing right there? Because the fact of the matter is, that’s what we do as Christians. We’re not alone. We have brothers and sisters, but even if in the absence of brothers and sisters, God is faithful. We don’t have to thrash around in the quicksand by ourselves. We have to call out to God.

And if we don’t, we will further our own demise and seal our fate, much like King David did here in 2 Samuel chapter 11. But in times of stress, unlike times of worship service, we don’t see it that easily. Perhaps if you’re like me, you think, what can I do to get myself out of this mess? What can I do? What are my options? How can I get out of here? And shockingly, we allow this into our personal lives as well. When you allow someone to cheat at school, and then the teacher or your parents perhaps asks you about it, you’re presented with a choice of doing what God wills or what David did. And if you do what David did, you have to lie to cover your previous sin.

Or how about even just allowing one sin to isolate you from a brother or sister, or even just another person. Because in order to reconcile, you’d have to admit that you were wrong, or you would have to apologize, or you would have to forgive them. And you allow that to become a grudge, and you allow that to become a wedge in your heart. You’ve just worsened your sin, followed the wicked path that David set out. The fact of the matter is, brothers and sisters, that that happens. It is very real, and Satan will continue to bleed us until we force him to stop if we just lay back and rely on ourselves. We must stop the bleeding and turn to God. In Romans chapter 12, in verses 1 and 2, look with me there.

In Romans chapter 12. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Being conformed to this world is saying, do it yourself. Get out of that problem, get out of the mess. You can do it, it’s on you. But that’s not it. We should be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And to what end? The end of verse 2, to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

And the implication of that is, of course, a step further, to discern and do what is the will of God. The bottom line is that as Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8 and verse 18, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Heaven is worth the struggle. Heaven is worth the sacrifice. And we must remember that whether now or at the day of judgment, we will give account. There is no covering sin from the Almighty God. We either own up to it here and now and stop the bleeding of sin, or we wait till the judgment day when we have no other recourse. And so that, of course, leads to the second thing that we should do, and perhaps the most important.

5. Confess and Repent of Our Sins

And this is also perhaps the most well-known step in recovering from failure with temptation is to confess and repent of our sins. In 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9, John writes, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. This means that we not only accept and understand, but admit to the full extent of what we had done. And certainly there’s great news there because God will forgive us, and that should be a blessing to us. We should rejoice in that fact. But we must also repent. And repentance is far more than saying, I’m sorry. Repentance is even far more than saying, Yes, I did it. Repentance is a complete emotional confession and change.

In the book of Joel, God is telling the people through the prophet, in Joel chapter 2 and verse 13, rend to me your heart and not your garments. He doesn’t want us to just walk around and say it. He wants us to live the change. Repentance is change. So when we fail in temptation, it’s not enough to just say, I’m sorry, yes, I did it, and to get down on ourselves, we have to change. If I’m sinning over here, it’s just like getting off the fence. I have to go over here. I have to change my entire mindset. I have to be transformed in thought, putting on the new man. That applies after baptism. It applies after sin. The new man concept is between sin and righteousness.

So when we fall short, not only should we confess, but we should repent and understand that true transformation, true obedience to God is a reformation of the heart. It is saying, God, I will do only your will. I will only follow your ways. I will meet your expectations. And that’s what God needs from those who have failed him. David certainly understood in practice this confession and his repentance. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to look at it this morning. But in Psalm chapter 51, he is repenting to God. He’s asking for God’s mercy. And he even mentions how he wants God to cleanse his heart. Cleanse, give him a new mind after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. But while we’re back on David, pull your bookmarker and go back to 2 Samuel chapter 12.

6. Accept the Consequences

We see that we need to accept the consequences.

Doesn’t it seem that often there is nothing worse than a big old slice of humble pie? Being wrong is very hard. But being sinful is devastating. Think about David. Think about the courageous prophet Nathan, willing to confront the king of Israel. Perhaps God’s leading disciple at the time. And here in 2 Samuel chapter 12, David is faced with the culmination of all of his sin. Murder, lying, adultery, deceit. And he’s going to be faced with it head on. Imagine, the guilt eating away at him, but he’s covered. He’s clean. Look in 2 Samuel chapter 12, beginning in verse 5. After giving an antidote describing what David did just in a metaphorical terms, he says, now there can’t, excuse me, verse 5. Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die.

You know that David is furious. It is an outrage to him that someone in his kingdom, in his reign that is committing the people of Israel to God in God’s ways that someone would do this would be unjust, unmerciful. And David, you can see him boiling with anger. Verse 5 says, Great anger was kindled within him. Is the intent of the verse. And you can see he wants to say, he must be put to death. And Nathan says in verse 7 to David, you are the man. Why have you despised the word of the Lord? Verse 9. If there was ever a case of a huge helping of humble pie, it was here in 2 Samuel chapter 12. David says, This man should be put to death.

Nathan says, You are the man who should be put to death. You have wronged God. It is you who have walked astray. It is you as transgressed not only the rules of your kingdom, but the rule of your Almighty God who you claim to worship and serve. And, oh man, this was the man after God’s own heart. The king of his people, perhaps the utmost leading disciple. How would David respond? We think to ourselves, this murderous, adulterous, lying wretch of a man. And yet he did something that most of us here this morning struggle with most. He admitted his wrong. And he took the consequences. Do we have a heart to do that? Do we have a heart to take what the Lord has put before us and say, I understand this is the will of the Lord.

I understand I missed it. David took the consequences. We wonder, where is this heart? Where is this profound heart of the man who’s after God’s own heart? There it is. If you read further in the text in verses 11 through 14, and then the fallout in verses 19 and 20, he accepts the death of his son. He is very grieved. Make no mistake. He isn’t just flipping about it. He is grieved by it. He is praying and fasting to God that God would spare what he has deserved, but God is just and promised in verse 13 and 14 that the Son would be taken from him. And in verses 19 and 20, he was. But notice at that point that David accepted the consequences, and went back to serving God and worshiping and praising him.

Conclusion

Sin stinks. It wreaks a failure. It oozes guilt, but most of all, it is punctuated by the stain on our perfect garment that Christ died for. We need to be willing to take the consequences. And finally, this morning, we need to rejoice. Because as was read in Psalm chapter 145 and verse 8, we understand that despite all of that, God is gracious. Despite how much we sin at Him, God is merciful. No matter how many times we fall, God is slow to anger. God is abounding in steadfast love, and the Lord is good to all. We need to understand that whether in success or failure, the point is we should rejoice in having the Almighty God in our corner on our side, helping us forward, wanting us to live eternally with Him.

With that in mind, let’s go to that God in prayer. O God, you are so mighty and powerful. Hallowed be your name. We praise you, O God, for the might in which you created this world by just speaking it into existence. The fact that you are the God of Israel who parted the sea, who gave them land, who caused empires of this world to rise and to fall at your command and your will. Thank you, O God, for choosing to bless us, mere men that continue to fall and blot the garments that you’ve refreshed for us. Forgive us when we sin. Help us to stand up against the devil and all of his temptations. Thank you for providing us the armor with which to gear ourselves up in your defense.

May we spend this morning in Bible class learning more about you, rededicating our lives to you, and most importantly, God, thanking you for sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We ask all this in his name. Amen.