PowerPoint - Aug. 29, 2007
August 29, 2007
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
--Mark 14:38
As Christians, each of us must recognize our potential for moral and sexual failure. Now, perhaps you’d say, “Pastor, I don't know about you, but I’d never cheat on my wife.” Or, “I’d never be unfaithful to my husband.”
First Corinthians 10:12 says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” No one is immune to moral failure! That’s why Jesus tells us in Mark 14:38, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
King David is a great example. The Scripture calls David a man after God’s own heart…something that wouldn’t be said of very many of us today. Yet even David yielded to the temptation of sexual sin. He knew God…he walked with God…he had been exalted by God to a position of great spiritual responsibility. And yet even David failed!
I don’t care who you are or what position of spiritual leadership you’re in. Not ONE of us is exempt from the possibility of giving in to moral impurity if we fail to guard our hearts. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep [or guard] your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” You always have to be on guard!
Don't think you're that strong! Don't think you're so invulnerable! Don't think you're so perfect and pious that it could never happen to you!
What I hear again and again from couples who’ve found themselves in the fracture of infidelity is, “I never dreamed this would happen to me. I never planned it. I never envisioned it. I never even thought about it that I'm aware of. I can't believe that this actually happened to me...to us."
It can happen to you if you’re not watchful and prayerful. So today, I encourage you to guard your heart. Run from sin into the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ!
no matter who you are, you are not immune to temptation… so be watchful and prayerful
