Facing Temptation
Psalms 141
October 30, 2022
Tonight we come upon the 141st Psalm.
If you’ve studied it, then you are aware that the Psalm would be really easy to grasp and understand if it weren’t for verse 6.
• If you read ahead and it stumped you just know that you are in good company.
• I read commentaries from some of the greatest theological minds of the last 300 years and even they can’t come to a consensus.
It is difficult,
But even without being absolutely dogmatic as to the meaning of verse 6
The total thrust of the Psalm is clear everywhere else.
David is contemplating the threat and reality of temptation.
Some have seen this Psalm as temptation which is accompanied by slander or even persecution, but at the core, it is still temptation.
When we think of temptation our minds are always drawn to that famous passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul said:
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
Of course that verse is one of the most misquoted in our world today.
People often say, “I know God won’t give me more than I can handle.”
That’s not what that verse says.
• This verse isn’t about hardship or trials or suffering
• This verse is about temptation.
And as an introduction to our Psalm tonight
It would be a good idea to remember the promises Paul spoke of there.
1) TEMPTATION IS COMMON
No one gets an extra-special unique temptation.
• The temptations you will face are the same that all men have faced since the dawn of creation.
You can go read the account IN THE GARDEN when Satan tempted Eve
And see that his TACTICS HAVEN’T CHANGED.
2) TEMPTATION IS CONTAINED
God won’t let you be tempted beyond what you are able.
• There is a sovereign limit placed upon the temptation which Satan is allowed to throw at you.
So you don’t get a special temptation and you don’t get an irresistible temptation.
3) TEMPTATION IS CONQUERABLE
There is always a way of escape.
• It is implied then that you run, but there is always a way out.
That we know to be true of temptation.
TONIGHT we look at a man who understands
The realities of facing temptation.
His description almost paints temptation like a Carnival Barker
Summoning you to “Step Right Up” and give his booth a try.
David knows they are out there.
And he knows that to fall into their trap means certain destruction.
You actually see that in verse 7, where David gives an evaluation of the EFFECT of these tempters on his culture.
(7) “As when one plows and breaks open the earth, Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
“Sheol” is the place of the dead.
David looks around at the society and sees that
The tempters have been very effective.
“They’re killing us!”, David might say.
I think of the effects of the internet or smart phones on our culture.
• I think about what these things have contributed to the spread of pornography
and sexual immorality and coveting and boasting, etc.
The internet just represents non-stop temptation.
And we could say with David, “IT’S KILLING US!”
Now this Psalm is not about the internet, but it is about temptation.
AND IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN REAL.
It was real without technology and it is real with technology.
What we find in Psalms 141 is how a man of God approaches it.
You can’t escape being tempted. Even Jesus was tempted.
But since it is common and it is coming,
The man of God certainly takes proper steps to be prepared for it,
And proper steps to resist it when it comes.
Psalms 141 show us how David approached it.
Let’s look at 3 things David did to overcome temptation.
#1 PRAYER
Psalms 141:1-6
The Psalm opens with 2 verses which show not only that David prayed
But his commitment to prayer in this battle.
As we already noted,
• David knew that sin was wrecking his culture.
• He knew it was killing us.
• He had seen more than his fair share of neighbors fall to its tactics.
• Even David himself had fallen to temptation.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians,
In the verse directly preceding that passage on temptation:
1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
It doesn’t do anyone any good
To have an arrogant attitude regarding temptation.
It has captured and conquered the greatest of men.
And to treat it NONCHALANTLY as though it’s not a threat to you,
IS A MAJOR MISTAKE.
David did no such thing.
HE PRAYED.
But look at the ATTITUDE behind his prayer.
(1-2) “O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”
Do you see the URGENCY of David’s prayer?
• “hasten to me!”
• “Give ear to my voice WHEN I call to You!”
Listen God, when I cry out that I need You; I need You!
I don’t need You next week, I need You right now.
David prays about temptation like a man without a “plan-B”
If God doesn’t show up to help, I’m sunk.
YOU SEE THAT URGENCY.
When a tiger jumps in the room,
You don’t need help an hour from now, you need it right now!
Do you see the DESPERATION in David’s prayer?
• “Give ear”
David DOESN’T approach God and say,
“Hey, you got a minute? Is this a good time?”
David is calling 911 here.
• Drop what You’re doing God and listen to me.
• It is urgent and I am desperate.
Do you see how seriously David treats temptation?
He does not have an “I got this” attitude.
He’s in over his head and he knows it.
Do you see the FAITHFULNESS in David’s prayer?
“May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”
“counted” there can also be translated “Fixed”
And that is what David is referring to.
• “incense” was burned before God every morning.
• And the “evening offering” given every night.
They were fixed occurrences before God, and David says so is my prayer.
I’m not about to face the day or the night
Without petitioning God for help against the temptation of sin.
As I was contemplating this I thought about our culture
And our commitment to TAKE MEDICATION.
• Some have to take it every morning, some every evening, some both.
• And to most people, it’s a pretty big deal.
• You understand that there can be consequences to missing it.
David has that attitude with prayer in regard to temptation.
• He’s not going to mess around.
• He’s making sure to bring God into the battle.
He’s urgent
He’s desperate
He’s faithful
There’s a good place to STOP & PONDER our battle against temptation.
When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.
• He talked about hallowing God’s name. (Important)
• He talked about seeking God’s will. (Important)
• He talked about requesting God’s provision (Important)
• He talked about asking God’s forgiveness (Important)
And then He said:
Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
If there’s one on the list we are prone to omit it’s that one.
• We understand worship in prayer.
• We understand praying for God’s will.
• We certainly understand praying for provision and forgiveness.
But often overlooked is that Jesus also told us
To pray that we would not be tempted.
IT’S THAT IMPORTANT.
And so here we get to ask ourselves that first reflective question.
Do I pray that God would protect me from temptation?
When I’m out of food or out of money and can’t pay the bills, I’m certainly urgent and desperate faithful to pray for provision.
When I’m sick or injured or in pain, I’m certainly urgent and desperate and faithful to pray for healing.
And yet the reality is that we are ALWAYS in danger of temptation.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
TEMPTATION IS REAL
And David was committed to praying for God’s help against it.
We start there.
• If you’re headed out in the tall grass you know to watch for snakes.
• Well, you live in the snakes domain, and you’d better ask God for help.
THAT’S JUST THE ATTITUDE OF DAVID’S PRAYER.
Let’s look at the SUBSTANCE of his prayer.
(3-5) “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies. Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.”
I want to start first at the end of that passage.
Look at that last line of verse 5.
David says, “For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.”
That is certainly part of David’s prayer life and it should be part of ours.
• We pray against wicked men.
• We pray against the spread of their wickedness.
Certainly that prayer mostly consists of their repentance and salvation,
But we pray against them none the less.
We have no problem asking God to “break the arm of the wicked”
Or to “knock out the fangs of the young lion.”
• We’ve talked repeatedly about those imprecatory Psalms
• And we have no problem asking God to put a stop to the spread of evil like
abortion or sexual immorality or greed or slander or corruption.
• We constantly ask God to heal our land and purge the evil from it.
But if you’ll notice David starts that line with “For…”
That is to say, “I pray all these other things because I am praying against the wicked.”
To put it another way, It would be pure hypocrisy for me to pray against the wicked but not to pray against wickedness in my own life.
Jesus taught us that didn’t He?
Matthew 7:1-3 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
It has to start at home.
It has to start in your life.
You can’t pray for God to clean wickedness out of the culture
If you don’t also pray for God to clean the wickedness out of your life.
Romans 2:21-24 “you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
And so as David rightly prays against the wicked
DAVID ALSO PRAYS AGAINST HIS OWN WICKEDNESS.
And he hits all the major areas.
(3) “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”
There’s a good place to start.
James said:
James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”
That’s putting it clearly isn’t it.
The tongue is a major issue for humanity.
James would go on:
James 3:6-10 “And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”
David understood this.
That on any given day he would likely face no greater temptation
Than the temptation to sin with his tongue.
Think of all the things we categorize as temptation today.
• Our culture is obsessed with sexual immorality.
• Alcohol is advertised pretty much everywhere.
• Self-centeredness is probably the central motive of every add campaign.
You think of all those things as temptations.
But I promise you none of those are as strong
As the temptation you face daily to sin with your tongue.
Lying – Gossip – Flattery – Slander – Boasting – Cursing – Filthy talk – cruelty
The tongue is indeed a world of evil.
And it is ABSOLUTELY UNCONTROLLABLE.
I can promise you this that the most consistent way
Satan will try to trap any one of us in sin will be with our tongues.
David knows this.
And so he prays for God to “Set a guard…over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”
David already taught us:
Psalms 139:4 “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”
And since You know what I’m about to say,
Before I say it, grab my lips and hold them closed!
We need God’s help to keep us from sinning with our tongues.
David takes that with urgency and desperation and faithfulness to God.
NOT JUST THE TONGUE.
(4a) “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing”
Here David speaks of the DESIRES.
Your desires are very much a breeding ground for sin.
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
And listen, it’s NOT just that our desires lead to sin.
If you listen to Jesus, THE DESIRE IS SIN.
What did Jesus teach us about murder?
Do you want to; are you angry? – THAT’S SIN!
What did Jesus teach us about adultery?
Do you have lust; do you want to? – THAT’S SIN!
What did Paul say in Romans 7 was his great sin?
COVETING
All of that occurs in the heart.
That’s the origin.
And David knew it.
• He needed God’s help to control his desires.
• He needed God’s help to control what he wanted.
Many a man has fallen prey to Satan’s temptation
To covet, lust or hate nowhere but in the confines of his own heart.
And David knows that.
He needs God to steer the direction of his heart.
AND THAT’S STILL NOT ALL.
(4b) “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity;”
Here David speaks of his ACTIONS.
• It is the temptation to join in with the wicked.
• It is the temptation to say what they say or laugh at what they laugh at.
• And we’ve all fallen there.
Remember Psalms 1?
Psalms 1:1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”
And there’s a progression there.
• A man first hears the counsel of the wicked.
• The next thing you know he’s standing in the path with sinners.
• And finally he ends up in the seat of scoffers
David knows that.
Every alcoholic started with a first drink under coercion.
When I was in high school it was tobacco.
I don’t care who you are, nobody liked that first dip of snuff, but it’s the desire to walk with the wicked that leads you into that iniquity.
David knew that just a moment of weakness
To join sinners in their sin
Could pay off in a life of sinful behavior.
So he asked God to protect him
From those wicked men who might entice him.
AND ALSO DAVID PRAYED;
“And do not let me eat of their delicacies.”
Here David prayed for protection from his own APPETITE.
James said sin originates with our own lusts.
What is it that makes you want to try that carnival game even when you know they’re cheating?
• It’s your own cravings.
• It’s your own appetites.
Listen, you may have been redeemed and are headed to heaven,
But you still live in a fallen sinful flesh.
And Paul put it plainly when he says you’ve got to beat it into submission
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Paul understood that his flesh was his enemy and he had to whip it.
• In other places he had to crucify it.
• He told the Colossians to put it to death.
David knows this.
The flesh must be beaten into submission and he urgently, desperately,
And faithfully appeals to God to help that happen.
AND THAT IS STILL NOT ALL.
Look at what else David prays for.
(5) “Let the righteous man smit me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it.”
In those moments where I am not discerning enough or willing enough to buffet my own body…SEND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT!
Send me a Nehemiah who will strike me and pull out my hair
Until I leave the sin that is so offensive to God.
Send me a brother to confront me and expose me and rebuke me
And call me out of my sin.
Isn’t that a great prayer!
How badly do you want to overcome sin and temptation?
Do you want it badly enough to be rebuked?
I know some of you do, that’s why you faithfully attend church
To sit under the preaching of the word.
That’s what David wanted.
• So he prayed for God to guard and protect him from temptation
• And even to send a faithful brother by to help out in the process.
THAT’S HOW YOU FACE TEMPTATION!
And this is where we’re going to deal with verse 6.
We’re going to see it as a climax to David’s understanding
Of the dangers of temptation.
He says, (6) “Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock, And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.”
It is generally understood that judges being thrown down
Is a picture of wicked leaders being thrown off a cliff to their death.
And to it would seem that David is saying that
“There is coming a day when the tempters will be destroyed.”
And on the day when you see the payout for sin and temptation
You’ll see what a favor I’m doing by warning you to avoid it.
I think in light of the context of the Psalm that’s the best way to handle that verse.
• Listen to me warning you about the dangers of temptation.
• And if you won’t listen now, there’s a coming a day of judgment when
you’ll see that I’m right.
But the main point you see is that in order to battle temptation
DAVID TURNED TO PRAYER!
There’s another thing David turned.
#2 TRUST
Psalms 141:7-9
We already examined verse 7 which spoke of the horrible effect
Sin and temptation has had on David’s culture.
“They’re killing us!” David said.
And that prompts his NEXT COURSE OF ACTION which is to TRUST GOD.
(8) “For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.”
You see there that statement, “In You I take refuge”
• We often talk about the importance of being “In Him”
• We know that we must be “in Christ” to survive the judgment.
But do you understand that He is also a hiding place from temptation?
He doesn’t just shelter you from judgment,
He also shelters you from temptation.
• He keeps you from stumbling.
• He keeps you from evil.
• He is the One who provides the way of escape.
• He is the One who directs your path.
You don’t just need to abide in Him during the judgment,
You need to abide in Him every day.
You want an analogy?
In the garden when the soldiers attacked and Jesus was with them, what did Peter do?
• He impulsively attacked and cut off a guy’s ear.
• He was bold and courageous.
But what happened when Jesus was taken away and Peter had to face a slave girl alone?
• He crumbled in fear.
And then what happened when Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to indwell Peter?
• He boldly preached in Jerusalem.
You need the presence of Christ to overcome temptation.
David was trusting God and hiding in Him.
We do this, not only through prayer, but also by remaining in His word.
We let “the word of Christ dwell within [us] richly”.
We hide in Him.
(9) “Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, And from the snares of those who do iniquity.”
• David knew there were traps set that he was unaware of.
• David knew there were snares that he wouldn’t see.
He needed God to guide his steps.
HOW IMPORTANT THEN IS OBEDIENCE IN LIFE?
So many of the commands which God gives are to protect us
From the pitfalls and snares of the devil.
God’s commands aren’t meant to ruin your life,
But to protect you from the devil who is seeking to devour you.
Did not Jesus lean upon God’s word when facing temptation?
Obedience delivered him from the jaws of the enemy.
David is trusting God by obeying God’s word.
That is how you overcome temptation too.
You can’t simply pray for God to protect you from temptation
And then go off living the life of a renegade in disobedience.
You must trust Him.
You must abide in Him.
You must obey Him.
Do what He says even when it doesn’t make sense,
Because He knows what you don’t know.
One more way, quickly
#3 RUN
Psalms 141:10
“Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.”
You can also translate that word “safely” as “altogether”
In other words.
God, let them keep barking and tempting and fall into their own plans,
But let me get out of there!
Help me escape!
• Isn’t that what Paul said?
• That God would provide the way of escape?
Run! Leave!
It’s foolish to sit in a bar
Continually asking God to give you strength not to drink.
Leave.
God has promised that there is ALWAYS a way of escape, take it!
• Did not Joseph run from Potiphar’s wife?
• Those Hebrew boys refused that unclean food.
So much of the sin we fall into would be avoided if we just ran from it.
You have to see sin and temptation as a deadly viper.
YOU’VE GOT TO FLEE.
So if you want to know how to face temptation, then listen to David.
PRAY (urgently, desperately, faithfully)
TRUST (take refuge in His word, and obey it)
RUN
This is how we handle temptation.
