Breaking Free

1 Corinthians 10:11-13  -  June 7, 2009

Jose Rivera was a bandit notorious for robbing banks and businesses in Texas.  Time after time he managed to elude the small town sheriffs who set out after him.  Eventually the townsfolk were moved to action and they hired a ranger to go after Rivera in the hopes that he’d be able to retrieve their money and jewelry and bring Rivera to justice.  The ranger followed his trail for some days until he tracked him to a cantina across the border in Mexico.

As he entered the place the ranger looked around the bar, went up to the bar keeper, and said, “I’m looking for Jose Rivera.  Can you point him out to me?”  “Si, Senior.  He sits at that table over there,” the man replied while pointing.  The ranger nodded his thanks, laid his hand upon his gun, and walked over to the table the bar keep had indicated.  “Are you Jose Rivera?” he asked the fellow sitting there.

The man mumbled, “No speak English.”  The ranger, not to be undone at this point, called the bar keep over to translate for him.  The ensuing conversation was tedious as each question was asked in English, then translated into Spanish and the answers spoken in Spanish and translated into English again.  But finally the ranger asked the bar keep to tell Jose Rivera that he only had two choices:  1 – he could let the ranger know where all the money and jewelry was stashed and he could walk away a free man, or, 2 – he could be shot dead on the spot.

Jose Rivera didn’t need to think for more than a moment after this ultimatum was translated for him.  He pulled himself together and said to the bar keep, “Tell the ranger to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money I have taken.”

The bar keeper turned to the ranger, opened his mouth, swallowed and then he said, “Jose Rivera says,” and then he paused, a thoughtful look coming across his face for a moment and then, looking the ranger right in the eyes he said, “Jose Rivera says, …’Go ahead and shoot!’”  (Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, (Word Publ., Dallas: 1994), pp. 98-99)

Well let’s face it – temptation comes to all of us at one time or another.  What tempts me, might not be a temptation for you, and what tempts you might not be a temptation for your neighbor, but each and every one of us will face temptation over different things in our lives.  Even Jesus faced temptation, didn’t He?  We’re told in the Gospel of Luke that as Jesus was to begin his public ministry that the Holy Spirit led Him out into the wilderness where He was tempted by the devil for 40 days.  It’s a good reminder that if the Son of God faced temptation, that we, who are His sons and daughters by adoption, will face temptation as well.

Now there’s something we need to be clear on.  There is no sin in temptation itself.  Jesus was tempted but the Bible makes it clear that He was still without sin.  Yet it’s also true that temptation, if acted upon, can certainly result in sin.  And sin affects our relationships – with others – and with God Himself.  And because of that we need to understand something deceptive about temptation.  Giving into a sinful temptation promises more than it delivers.  See, the power behind all the temptations that we struggle with, is the prospect of happiness, or the escape from unpleasantness, if we give in to it.  For the child, faced with the possibility of punishment for something wrong they’ve done, lying, to avoid the consequences of their actions, might be a temptation.  Yet if they give in and lie they have to live with that guilt and shame.  They are held in bondage to that sin.  For the man or woman who finds themselves unhappy in their marriage the prospect of an affair might be a temptation for them.  The man or woman to whom they are turning their hearts seems to promise escape, or freedom, or new life to them.  Yet giving into the temptation ultimately leads to guilt and shame and broken lives.

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