Bible Study - Temptation (5) - Recovering from a Fall into Temptation - Psalm 32 - May 14, 2023

 

Bible Study – Temptation (5) – Recovering from a Fall into Temptation – Psalm 32:1-7 – May 14, 2023

This is lesson five (5) in our series entitled, “Dealing with Temptation.”

Our scripture is Psalm 32:1-7.

Return to GOD for forgiveness and restoration.

Every person is subject to temptation. If you think you are beyond being tempted, then be extra vigilant because you are most vulnerable. I know I have been there. GOD’S word tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13: ¹³ No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

Yes, GOD provides the way out but a person has to take it.

Psalm 32 is a Psalm King David wrote after he had fallen into an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and had her husband positioned in battle such that he would be killed.

But let’s roll back time to see if we can see when Satan MAY have been planting wrong thoughts in the mind of King David.

We read in 2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, ³ and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

Oh my!!! Trouble in Jerusalem. David was in a serious situation.

When we sin, it has its consequence. We know that adultery led to murder in the case of King David. Certainly, a downward spiral in King David’s life. King David wrote Psalm 32 after he confessed his sin. Confession spells relief.

Psalm 32

The Joy of Forgiveness

Of David. A Maskil.

¹ How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!
² How joyful is a person whom
the Lord does not charge with iniquity
and in whose spirit is no deceit!

³ When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained^[a]
as in the summer’s heat. Selah
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶ Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately.^[b]
When great floodwaters come,
they will not reach him.
⁷ You are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and show you the way to go;
with my eye on you, I will give counsel.
⁹ Do not be like a horse or mule,
without understanding,
that must be controlled with bit and bridle
or else it will not come near you.

¹⁰ Many pains come to the wicked,
but the one who trusts in the Lord
will have faithful love surrounding him.
¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
you righteous ones;
shout for joy,
all you upright in heart.

King David finally confessed his sin after the Prophet Nathan confronted him and he wrote this Psalm to express the joy associated with GOD’S forgiveness. GOD had to send the Prophet Nathan to confront David before he openly confessed his sin.

King David’s acknowledgement did not come easy. Let’s read what GOD had to do to get King David to acknowledge his sin as recorded in 2 Samuel 12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him:

There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very large flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.^[a]

⁵ David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”

⁷ Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms,^[b] and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why then have you despised the Lord’s command by doing what I consider^[c] evil? You struck down Uriah the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword. ¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another^[d] before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight.^[e] 12 You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’”^[f]

¹³ David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. ¹⁴ However, because you treated^[g] the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went home.

The Death of Bathsheba’s Son

The Lord struck the baby that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became deathly ill. ¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

¹⁸ On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”

¹⁹ When David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the baby was dead. So, he asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?”

“He is dead,” they replied.

²⁰ Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So, they served him food, and he ate.

²¹ His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food.”

²² He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’ ²³ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.”

 

When GOD forgives, HE forgets because HE has buried our sins in the deepest part of the ocean and put up a no fishing sign. But who keeps reminding us of our sin? You got it, Satan!

However, the consequence of our sin may run deep into our lives and the life of our loved ones. We see this in the life of David’s family.

Since the passion of JESUS, what does GOD’S Word reveal about forgiveness for those who have been redeemed by the shed blood of JESUS?

Let’s read 1 John 1: ⁷ If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

When Spirit-born Christians sin, they are to confess their sins. It is the eternal shed blood of JESUS that cleanses from their sin.

Why confess our sins as Spirit-born people? So, that we do not give a toehold in our lives for Satan and for us to remain in right relationship with GOD.

We are praying for revival in our church. Step one is for us to confess our sins and to ask GOD to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then we are to live as led by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Dear FATHER, we know that YOU have placed each of us in our church to accomplish YOUR will and purpose. We are positioned in this community to be a light for those seeking salvation and those who are in need physically, emotionally and Spiritually. May we reach others in love and not out of obligation. In JESUS name we pray!

All of us are subject to sin. Blessings!!!