Turn to the Lord when Temptation Brings Trouble

I have been re-watching a show called MythBusters. The basic premise of the show is to test myths. One of the recent episodes I watched tested the myth that a rock hit by a lawnmower can kill a person. I won’t spoil the ending for you now, but I will tell you that the results will leave you with a newfound respect for lawnmowers.

Although rocks can be deadly, the people living in the city of Jericho learned to fear something even more than rocks. Jericho was a city in the area God had promised to give the Israelites after they spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. The city was heavily fortified by a wall that surrounded the city. To conquer the city, God did not tell Israel to prepare catapults or great siege works to launch giant stones at the city to knock down the walls. Instead, he said that they needed to march around the city for a week blowing trumpets made from rams’ horns. Now, this would have been the best MythBusters show ever to test a thick stone wall being toppled by blowing trumpets made from rams’ horns. It did work, and the walls of Jericho fell, but not because of physics. God brought the walls down and gave Israel victory. Much like the miracles of the ten plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the sending of manna and quail to feed the people, and water from a rock to quench their thirst, God had again provided for his people.

After the fall of Jericho, Israel set out for the next city of Ai. Ai was not a large city, so Israel sent a small force to fight against them, but they were defeated. Joshua, Israel’s leader, did not understand what had happened. Then the Lord spoke to Joshua telling him that someone had kept for themselves some of the things from Jericho that were supposed to be set aside for God, so God was angry with all of Israel and was not with them in battle. To find out who had sinned against the Lord, each of the tribes of Israel came before Joshua and the Lord indicated which tribe had the guilty party in it. From there the Lord narrowed it down to a man named Achan. And we hear what Joshua said to Achan in our Old Testament reading from Joshua 7, 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver (about 5 lbs.) and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels (about 1 ¼ lbs.), I coveted them and took them. For the evil they had done, Achan, his family and all they had were stoned to death, and a pile of stones was put over them as a lasting reminder to the people of the seriousness of turning away from God, giving into temptation and the trouble it brings.

The punishment for giving into temptation is serious. We are not sure whether Achan is in heaven. We know he gave into temptation, but he did confess his sin against God. His heart may have been filled with repentance and faith at the time of his death, but the consequence for what he had done was still death. You and I face the same temptations as Achan. He knew about God. He had seen God work miracles; he watched the walls of a powerful city fall because of trumpets. He knew God was with the army of Israel to give them victory over the people living in the land God had promised them. Yet, he wanted more, he coveted and stole, making a beautiful robe and precious metals more valuable, meaningful, powerful, trustworthy, etc. than God. You have given in to making things more valuable than God. You have sinfully chased after things and brought them into your life. You have taken God out of first place in your heart and replaced him. When you leave God behind, all that you have is temporary and broken; without God you eventually lose everything in death and are condemned to hell.

You need to be saved from the troubles of temptation. In our Gospel reading from Luke 4, Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days. The devil had to keep tempting Jesus with more and more because Jesus did not give into temptation. When you and I are tempted, we often give into temptation at some point, but not with Jesus. So, the devil eventually offered the world to him to push him into sin. We read in Luke 4, 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Jesus quoted the first commandment to the devil. There was nothing the devil could offer Jesus because he already had God. Where Achan failed by turning to things, Jesus held on to God. When you have failed to hold on to God, when you have coveted, replaced God and left him behind, Jesus held on to God. Jesus actively fought against and successfully did not give into temptation.

Jesus did not sin to save you from your sins. When you consider how many times you have broken just the first commandment by worshiping, trusting, devoting time, energy, money, etc. into something other than God and his will, there is real fear, anxiety, discouragement, etc. when you think about standing before God on Judgment Day. Then, in our New Testament reading from Hebrews 4, we read, 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. When like Achan you fear the stones being thrown at you, when you fear rejection, death and hell, Jesus said, “Throw the stones at me.” The mercy and grace of God for all those times you have given into temptation and sinned is yours because of Jesus. When Jesus was hung on the cross, he died for your sins. And his life of fighting temptation and faithfully following all of God’s command every moment of his life, has been given to you. When God sees you, he sees you as good and worthy to be his people. You can stand before the throne of God in heaven with all confidence because Jesus fought temptation faithfully to remain the perfect sacrifice for sin.

When faced with temptation turn to the Lord. When Achan saw the beautiful rob, silver and gold, he took them, and he was lost. When you face temptation, use the Word of God to fight. Again, in our New Testament reading from Hebrews 4, we read, 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. Your faith in Jesus is not only a list of facts or black and white letters on a page or screen. The Word of God is your weapon. Jesus has fought for you and won. He kept himself from temptation and he died in your place. You are forgiven and a citizen of heaven. When temptation comes, turn to the Lord to defend you. Have ready Bible verses to defend yourself when temptation comes. You will have them ready by being regular in worship, Bible Study and personal devotions.

I’ve already seen the MythBusters episode where they test the myth that a rock hit by a lawnmower can kill a person. I am sure many of you have watched and re-watched shows or read and re-read books that you can quote word for word scenes or sections, and even name random characters that only appeared in one or two episodes. It is that kind of familiarity with the Bible Jesus had. He knew what had happened to Achan when he fell into temptation and did not rely on his faith in the Lord who delivered him and his people many times with his awesome power. Your real life temptations need a real life Savior. Jesus is the one who overcame temptation saving you from the terrible trouble of hell and he is your defense when you face temptations until you are free from them in heaven. Turn to the Lord when temptation brings trouble. Amen.