Sermon Tone Analysis

PRAYING IN TIMES OF TEMPTATION

We all face times of temptation in life, no matter our race, our age, our educational level, or our socio-economic status.

And, the Bible gives us a great deal of instruction concerning how temptation comes into our lives and how it leads to sin in our lives; and the Bible teaches us how to deal with the temptations we face.

In the NT book of James for example, the half brother of Jesus wrote...

James 1:13-15

The Bible also gives us examples of people facing temptation.

Even our Lord was tempted as he began his earthly ministry.

In the OT, King David faced temptations and in one noteworthy instance, he succumbed.

We all remember the story of Bathsheba.

We have also heard how David confessed his sin AFTER the fact ().

But, many do not realize that David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also composed a psalm () in which he teaches us how to pray for God’s help when facing temptation BEFORE we give in to it.

The setting for this Psalm can be traced to...

1 sam 27.

This is a time in David’s life when he is fleeing from King Saul and it is important to note that the psalm was written early in David’s life, long before he was tempted and committed adultery and murder in his affair with Bathsheba.

While David was specifically facing a physical enemy, what he wrote could be (and should have been) applied to the spiritual enemy he later faced and that we often face in our lives — the spiritual enemy being Satan and the temptation to sin.

I invite you to look with me at .

In this psalm, David presents an excellent prayer for anyone who is tempted to make compromises of character and integrity.

He implores God to help him hold on, perhaps even to send him others who will support him and hold him accountable.

(Word in Life Study Bible, page 1048)

In this passage, we find three prayers we should offer to the Lord when we are facing temptation:

We should pray for separation

Psalm 141:1-4

In the first four verses, David calls out to the Lord in a sense of desperation.

He asks the Lord to “hasten” to him.

This implies that David is in a hurry for an answer from God.

When temptation comes, we don’t always have time to think.

In fact, sitting down and thinking about the temptation can cause us to actually dwell on it and rationalize our potential disobedience.

David wants the Lord to get to him quickly, but Paul puts a little bit different spin on this idea when he wrote to young Timothy in...

Listen, we should run FROM the temptation (as Paul says), but we should run TO the Lord (as David indicates).

We need to separate ourselves from the temptation and the situations where we will be tempted, but we should get as close to the Lord during those times as we possibly can.

For example, if you are tempted by alcohol, you should never go to a bar.

If you are tempted by lust, stay away from pornography, or avoid being alone with a member of the opposite sex.

If you are tempted by something that you cannot avoid for some reason, then find someone who will hold you accountable.

Get around people who will get your mind off the temptation and will help you to refocus on the Lord.

In verse 2, David said, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.

and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!”

The Hebrew word translated incense, as you would expect, speaks of the smoke from perfume that rises up toward God.

But, one Bible dictionary said that the word means...

“…To get closer, approach; to come forward, draw near....”

Landes, G. M. (2001).

Building your Biblical Hebrew vocabulary: learning words by frequency and cognate (Vol.

41, p. 67).

Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.

Hebrew poetry, rather than rhyming, repeats a thought using different words, so David repeats this idea in the last part of verse 2 when he says, “…and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!”

Years ago, when the lifting of hands in worship had become somewhat controversial in Baptist churches (it was beginning to become popular as an expression of worship to the Lord), I read an explanation of that practice in a book entitled, The Hallelujah Factor by Jack Taylor, which gave me a more positive perspective (though I’m still not a “hand-raiser”).

In that book Taylor illustrated hand raising in worship by talking about how his grandkids would come running up to him in the airport yelling, “Granddaddy!”

With their hands in the air they were communicating, “Pick me up and hold me, Granddaddy!”

Taylor said in the book (something to the effect), “I didn’t say to them, ‘Put your hands down, you little Pentecostals!’

Instead, I picked them up in my arms and hugged them.”

He went on to explain that this is what is being communicated by people who lift their hands in the air during worship.

They are, in essence, saying to God, “Pick me up, Lord, and hold me close!”

And, that’s what David is saying in verse 2. When facing temptation, he is (in desperation) crying out to the Lord, “Come near to me, Lord! Hurry!

Hold me!

I need You right now!”

We usually think of that sense of desperation in times of hurt and struggle, but David says that we should feel that same way when we are facing temptation.

It is then that the Lord becomes more precious and we desire His presence (His loving arms) more than we desire the temptation to sin.

In verse 3 David continues his prayer for separation by asking the Lord to “set a guard” over his mouth and to “keep watch” over the “door of [his] lips”; in verse 4 David asks the Lord to separate him from the evil in his heart that leads him to do things he should not do.

do not allude to idolatrous sacrifices (Rosenm., De Wette), but denote sensual enjoyments and ease, especially of those who had gained their possessions unjustly, Prov.

4:17; 9:5, (Kimchi, Calvin, Geier).

Such pleasures have something alluring, Ps. 73:10, (Hengst.),

notwithstanding the evil consequences, which should act as a warning, Job 20:12f.;

Prov.

23:1 f., 6 f. (Hupfeld).

[Ver.

4b is, literally: to work works in wickedness.

HENGSTENBERG: “In ver. 3 the Psalmist prays for preservation from the danger of sinning in word, which the temptation brought with it, and in ver. 4 from that of sinning in deed.Ps.

39:1 forms a commentary on ver. 3. The reference is not, as Calvin and others suppose, to hard speeches against his enemies, but to impatient, irreverent expressions against God.”—J.

F. M.]

David is asking God to separate him from both words (v. 3) and deeds (v.

4) that are not in keeping with the character and nature of the Lord.

Some of our greatest temptations are in the area of our speech.

That’s why Jesus said in...

If Jesus were speaking today, He might add, “How can you post or tweet good, when you are evil?

For out of the abundance of the heart the hand types (or the thumbs text).”

People sometimes feel freer to post or tweet comments that are mean and ugly when they might never say those things to a person’s face or even over the phone.

In verse 4, David speaks of the fact that the company we keep impacts the way we live our lives.

That’s why it is so important that we surround ourselves with committed followers of Christ (not just nominal Christians, but brothers and sisters in Christ who will encourage us to live godly lives and challenge us when they see us straying from biblical principles in the way we live).

Does that mean we should not be friends with people who are not followers of Christ?

Of course not!

How could we win others to Christ if we separate ourselves from them?

Jesus put it this way in His prayer in...

John 17:14-15

And, listen to the words of Peter in...

And, listen to the words of Peter in...

We want to separate ourselves from temptations and the sin around us and draw close to the Lord, while at the same time living in this evil world so that unbelievers can see what Jesus is really like and will be drawn to Him.

David teaches us that our first prayer in the face of temptation should be a prayer for separation.

We should pray for correction

David would not resist the rebukes of the righteous—they in fact were like anointing oil, helpful and refreshing

What does David mean in v. 5 when he says, “Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it”?

I believe he is drawing a contrast between being “in company with men who work iniquity” (v.

4) and being in the company of godly friends as he describes here in v. 5.

One commentator said...

David would not resist the rebukes of the righteous—they in fact were like anointing oil, helpful and refreshing

Ross, A. P. (1985).

Psalms.

In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.),

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 893–894).

Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

King Solomon (David’s son) wrote in the Book of Proverbs...

That’s what