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Introduction:
Imagine for a moment you are sleeping peacefully in your bed at
home. Suddenly, you are awakened by the scream of your smoke
detector. Wiping the sleep from your eyes, you see smoke is indeed
coming into your room from under the door. You test the door as
you were taught in school, it is burning hot. What would you do?
Have you ever thought about it? Have you taught your kids about
it? Have you ever practiced it? For years, I have been given the
reasons for having a planned escape route in case of fire.
However, not once have I given it any more than a passing thought.
I think I have mentioned it to the children on one occasion, but
we have never had a practice. What do you think will happen if we
actually have a fire? I imagine we will have a great deal of panic
and trouble. We might get it out of it alive and then again, we
might not. Clearly, the Crozier family needs to take the advice
offered and have a practiced plan.
There is a similar scenario to which we must all give more
thought. I
Corinthians 10:13 says,
“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 the way
of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (ESV). This verse,
for me, is one of the must hopeful verses in Scripture because its
author is the same person who wrote Romans
7:15-20. For
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want,
but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I
agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who
do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do
what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not
do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on
doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do
it, but sin that dwells within me. The
same man who struggled so much with covetousness he claimed to be
unable to stop proclaims there is an escape route for every sin.
But where? Do we face temptation the same way my family has faced
a possible house fire? Have we considered how we will escape
temptation? We must not expect to get to the moment of
overwhelming temptation and think we will see a neon sign flashing
an escape direction to us. As with the possible house fire, we
need to premeditate our route of escape. Only then will we learn
to overcome and conquer Satan by the grace of God. So, we ask,
what must we do to escape our temptations and sins? Discussion: I.
Escape Route Step #1: Rely on God A.
Romans
7:14-25
is pretty clear. While we are relying on ourselves, trying to pull
ourselves up by our bootstraps and get control of our lives, we
will always fail. If Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, Pharisee of
Pharisees and as to the law blameless demonstrated that with some
sins he couldn’t overcome on his own, why do we think we will be
any different? Let’s face it, Ephesians
2:1-3 explains where we put ourselves. We were by nature
children of wrath, following the lead of the devil. We will not
overcome that on our own. B.
This is not to say there aren’t any sins we have
committed that we can’t easily overcome. It merely demonstrates
that each of us have at some point given control of some part of
our lives over to some sin. The only way to overcome that bondage
and break free on any permanent basis is to let God handle it by
simply following His direction. As long as we think we are strong
enough to overcome temptation all by ourselves we will always fall
prey. But, when we recognize how truly weak we are and simply rely
on Christ for strength, then we can overcome (cf. II
Corinthians 12:9-10; Philippians 4:13). II.
Escape Route Step #2: Knowledge A.
If we want to escape a fire, we have to have some
knowledge. We need to know not to open doors that are hot. We need
to know smoke rises so crawl out. We need to know how to open
windows or where ladders are to get off the roof, etc. Without
knowledge, we will die in the fire. B.
If we don’t know what sin is, then we can’t possibly
escape from it. Further, we can’t know in which direction God is
leading us if we don’t know His Word. God said, “My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea
4:6, ESV). Further, Psalm
119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you” (ESV). Finally, we see Jesus
escape temptation because of His knowledge of the Word in Matthew
4:4, 7, 10. III.
Escape Route Step #3: Work on the heart A.
Proverbs
4:23
says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the
springs of life” (ESV). In Mark
7:20-23, Jesus explained the connection between our heart
and our actions. The immoralities that we commit all begin in the
heart. Thus, if we want to overcome our temptations to act
sinfully, we have to start by working on our heart. We see this as
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in Matthew
23:25-28. They tried to make the outside appear righteous
while leaving the inside filled with hypocrisy and unrighteous
thinking. No doubt, this inner corruption could not be permanently
hidden but came out. B.
We often make this point to talk about what we put in our
hearts and what we think about. We should make that point. As Philippians
4:8 says, we should think about, focus on and meditate
upon things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely,
commendable, excellent and worthy of praise. If we fill our time
thinking on these things, we have no time to think of immoral and
sinful things. However, I would like to take us further. C.
I want to tell you about my house. Some time ago, I noticed
that the siding underneath our back door had popped loose. I
recognized that was a problem. I made a mental note to do
something about it sometime. A couple weeks ago, I had Kenny Wells
come to my house to fix it. Fortunately for me, Kenny is a much
wiser man than I am. I would have popped off the siding, replaced
that piece of wood and reattached the siding. It would have looked
good on the outside. Kenny however checked around it and found the
problem didn’t begin there. There was rotten wood up on the side
of the door and then up on the side of the window and above the
window and up on the overhang. In fact, he found the problem began
about halfway up the roof with a section of messed up siding on
the overhang. He fixed that. Now, it not only looks good on the
outside, but the real problem is fixed. Many of us are like my
house. We see an external problem—perhaps drinking, drugs, lust,
pornography, sexual immorality, lying, gossip, outbursts of anger.
We attack it. We set up restrictions and rules to stop those bad
habits. The problem is those sins are not the root problem.
Rather, we have a problem in our heart. Perhaps we have never
learned how to appropriately face stress, sorrow, emotional pain,
confrontation, or even merely to talk through our problems with
somebody, etc. We may make ourselves look good on the outside, but
the problem is still on the inside. Eventually, the struggle will
surface and all our attempts to white knuckle it on the outside
won’t accomplish anything, we will find ourselves right back in
our active sin. It was painful to come home and watch Kenny work
his way up the side of my house and address the real problem. It
would have been cheaper and easier if he had just replaced that
one piece of wood and reattached that one piece of siding, but the
problem would still have been there. Eventually, more damage would
have appeared. That is the way it is in our lives. It is painful
to address the heart issues that cause us to sin. It is easier to
just try to address the external problems. But, in the end,
looking only on the outside simply allows more and more damage on
the inside that will find its way to the surface sooner or later.
If we want to escape sin, we need to start with the heart. IV.
Escape Route Step #4: Don’t make provision for the
flesh’s lusts A.
Romans
13:14
makes it very clear that we must not make provision for the lusts
of the flesh. Understand what this means. I recognize that making
a trip to the water park or the beach is not the same as lusting
after a woman. But what do we really think is going to happen
there? The idea of making provision is akin to what we do when we
take a trip. We have to prepare. We have to pack our bags and
include what we are going to need on the trip. In our lives, we
must not pack our luggage with anything that will pave the way for
us to sin. B.
I do recognize this may mean different things for each of
us. For instance, by God’s grace alcohol has never been a
struggle for me. If my car broke down and the nearest phone was in
the liquor store across the street, it would not be a bit of a
temptation for me to walk in there, use the phone and walk out.
However, if you have had struggle with drinking alcohol, you can
argue all day long about how it isn’t unlawful for you just to
go in and use the phone, you are a fool if you walk in there.
Don’t make provisions for your flesh’s lusts. On the other
hand, there are certain television shows that I don’t watch
anymore because I have learned they pave the way for the sins of
lust with which I struggle. They may not bother you that way. C.
But let’s take this a step further. If you were to talk
with folks involved in the Anonymous programs (Alcoholics
Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Sexaholics
Anonymous, etc.) you would hear them use terms like triggers and
rituals. A trigger is something the addict recognizes prompts a
fleshly desire. Making no provisions for the lusts of the flesh
means avoiding our triggers. For instance, I knew one brother who
is a recovering alcoholic. He gave up caffeine because he knew
that the stress and agitation of several caffeinated cups of
coffee made him feel the internal need to calm down. His natural
method of calming down was getting a drink of alcohol. So, he
didn’t just try to avoid the alcohol, he got rid of the trigger
and quit drinking caffeine. Rituals are the actions someone goes
through leading up to the actual active sin. I known of several
dating couples that have struggled with sexual immorality. They
would go on a date with every intention of staying pure. They
might even pray together to start the date to ask for strength to
be pure but they ended up messing around anyway. The story almost
always came out the same. They would go through a ritual that they
didn’t realize was the start of the problem. They drove out to a
secluded place to have some privacy. Or they wanted to get away
from their roommates and so they went into their room and closed
the door. They had no intention of committing immorality when they
did these things, but for some reason it just kept happening. They
stopped their immorality by stopping their rituals. That is,
instead of driving out to secluded places or going into a room and
closing the door they started having privacy in public—taking
walks in public parks, staying in the restaurant, going out on to
the front porch to talk, etc. Making no provision for the lusts of
the flesh means recognizing our rituals that lead up to our sin
and cutting the temptation off at the knees. Don’t make
provision for the lust of the flesh. V.
Escape Route Step #5: Pursue righteousness A.
I
Timothy 6:11 and II Timothy 2:22 explain that
fleeing sinful things is not enough to escape. If we really want
to find God’s escape routes, we have to pursue righteousness.
After all, we are supposed to hunger and thirst for righteousness
(Matthew
5:6). B.
Jesus provides a great picture of this problem in Matthew
12:43-45. Jesus wasn’t really talking about demon
possession. Rather, He was using the picture of the unclean
spirits He had cast out as an illustration about facing temptation
and sin. When the unclean spirit returned, he did not find
anything in his old place. All he found was a dwelling place swept
out and cleaned up, but empty. He took along seven more and took
over the person again with a vengeance. This is a picture of
temptation. How many times when we have turned away from sin to we
spend all our time merely trying to keep the dwelling place
cleaned up. However, we aren’t pursuing anything else in the
place of the sin. It shouldn’t surprise us that the sin comes
back with a vengeance. That especially happens because when we
shift our focus from focusing on sin to merely focusing on not
committing that same sin, our mind is still dwelling on the sin.
We need to fill our minds and hearts with a greater pursuit. We
need to pursue righteousness. The principle of Ephesians
5:18 fits here. Paul is saying it is not merely enough to
refrain from filling our bodies with intoxicants because that
leads to debauchery, rather we must actively fill our minds with
the Spirit because that will lead to self-control. VI.
Escape Route Step #6: Humility A.
I
Corinthians 10:12
is clear, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall” (ESV). This calls to mind the repeated
sentiment in Proverbs
that pride goes before a fall (Proverbs
11:2; 16:18; 18:12). I know for me personally most of my
biggest falls with any particular sin come after I have bragged to
someone about how I’ve beaten some problem. It is almost as if
Satan waits to hear those words and then pounces. B.
Jesus said we must be poor of spirit if we want the kingdom
of heaven (Matthew
5:3). There are two sides of this. The one side is the
poverty of spirit that comes by recognizing how sinful we have
been, this causes us to turn to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness.
The other side is the humility to realize that apart from Jesus I
am merely going to continue in my sins. The moment I start
thinking I can beat the devil in this temptation game is the
minute he gains a foothold and then I am violating step #1 of
relying on God. When I rely on myself, I lose. VII.
Escape Route Step #7: Use strong moments to prepare for the
weak A.
There is a second point I think we can draw from I
Corinthians 10:12. When we think we are standing is when
we need to take heed. When you reach that plain of thinking you
are standing, when you feel like you have beaten the sin, be
humble enough to admit you won’t always feel this way. We all
have up times and we all have down times. We may have gone a few
days without lying, cheating or stealing. We may think we have it
beat and we don’t need any more help. Don’t fall prey to that
thinking. Instead, recognize Satan is about to mount bigger
attacks. He is merely lulling you into a false sense of security.
This is when you establish plans. Use these moments to prepare for
weak moments. B.
Use this time to establish accountability relationships
that will be in place. Instead of waiting until your weak moments
to try to gather the strength to call someone, use your strong
moments to establish their calls. That is, when you are strong and
really intent on overcoming some sin get some friend to commit to
call you at certain times to check on how you are doing and hold
you accountable, especially get them to agree to call you in times
you know are problem times for your sin. For instance, if you know
you have a tendency to use your lunch hour to gossip with
co-workers, have someone agree to call you just before or during
your lunch break. Use your strong moments to establish the walls
that might help you avoid sin in your weak ones. If you struggle
with internet pornography or internet gambling, use your strong
moments to go get a filter placed on your computer so in your weak
moments you cannot access the cyber-filth. If you struggle with
alcohol, use your strong moments to pour out your hidden stash and
throw away the bottles. VIII.
Escape Route Step #8: Confess to and pray with our
shepherds A.
James
5:14-15
is a difficult passage. I have taught and believe it is not
dealing with physical sickness but spiritual. Thus, the anointing
oil is not dealing with physical medicine but spiritual. I believe
this is one of the greatest steps we can take to overcome our
temptations and sins. When we are struggling spiritually, whether
it is merely with doubts and weaknesses or full-fledged in sin, we
mustn’t wait for our elders to finally see it so they have to
come to us. Instead, go to them. We should share our struggles,
temptations and sins with them. Then let them shepherd us. Listen
to their guidance. B.
I can personally attest to the benefit of this. I preached
this message for a long time without living by it. I preached it
over and again trying to convince myself to do what I was saying.
All the while, the temptations and sins festered inside like an
infected, puss-filled boil. When I finally was pushed to follow
through it was like a lancing of an infected sore. Yes, there was
some pain, but the following relief and help was immense. I
don’t know what you may be struggling with, but let me assure
you we have shepherds who care about our souls. They will not sit
in condescending judgment over you. They will hear your pleas and
they will help as much as they can giving you guidance and
shepherding to overcome your sins and temptations. IX.
Escape Route Step #9: Confess to and pray with our brethren A.
James
5:16
goes on to say that we need to confess our sins to one another and
pray with one another. I don’t believe this passage means every
Sunday we need to air our weekly dirty laundry to the entire
congregation by “going forward.” But it does mean we need to
find brethren we trust with whom we can share our struggles. We
need to let them pray with us. This passage says that the prayer
of our righteous brethren is very effective. These prayers alone
will help us overcome and escape our sins and struggles. B.
Further, this will develop relationships of help and
strength. It will open doors with brethren who can then stir us up
to love and good deeds as Hebrews
10:24 advises. X.
Escape Route Step #10: Flee immediately A.
If we take these first 9 steps, we will actually have taken
God’s escape route before we even realized there was a
temptation. We will avoid many of the temptations and traps Satan
is setting before they even become a problem. However, there will
still be times when Satan springs a trap on us that we didn’t
see coming. There is one final maneuver we must take. Flee. Run.
Don’t linger. Don’t think you can hang out there and fight it.
Get away from the temptation as fast as you can and do not worry
about the other consequences. B.
We have already read I
Timothy 6:11 and II Timothy 2:22 that speak of
fleeing immorality. We need to remember Joseph’s example in Genesis
39:12. He fled, leaving his garment in the house, which
paved the way for him to be framed for a sin he didn’t commit.
If you struggle with gossip and you walk up on brethren who are
gossiping, you can flee in two ways. One, you can rebuke them for
gossiping and ask them to stop or, two, leave. Don’t stick
around and try to be the mature brother or sister who doesn’t
submit. Get away from them. If you have trouble with stealing and
you find yourself in a store with the overwhelming desire to
shoplift, push your basket aside, put all your unpurchased items
down and get out of the store. If you are watching tv and a
scantily clad woman pops up, don’t continue to watch and try to
fight your lust. Walk out of the room, change the channel or turn
the tv off. Run, don’t walk, away from the temptation. Conclusion: Take courage. When our spiritual house is on fire and Satan has launched his burning assaults, God has paved the escape route. Flames may lick all about us, but we can be rescued if we merely follow God’s escape plans. Take courage. II Peter 2:9 explains that the Lord knows how to rescue us from trials and temptations. Let’s rely on His escape plans. Our house may burn, but we will escape saved and whole.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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