But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his
own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.--James 1:14-15Sinners take note: there is a lesson to be learned in the story of California's James Manning.
Of course, in order to learn that lesson you have to know Mr. Manning's story. The tale begins with Mr. Manning being arrested for drug possession. On the day he was to appear in court, Mr. Manning found he had no way to get there. Now I can give you this good piece of news: Mr. Manning did make it to court on time. The bad news is he stole a car in order to get there.
That's right. Mr. Manning added "grand-theft auto" to his already existing drug charge.
Sadly, Mr. Manning doesn't have much of a defense. The auto dealership in Redding, California, called the police and told them their car's GPS showed it was parked in front of the local courthouse. To make a long story a bit shorter, the police waited around until Mr. Manning came out and arrested him a second time.
A crazy story? You bet! But it gets worse. When the police checked out the stolen vehicle, they found some marijuana hidden inside and added another drug-possession charge to the beleaguered James Manning.
Well, Daily Devotioners, that's the story... and the lesson to be learned ...?
The truth you should glean from Mr. Manning's tragic comedy is that one sin leads to another. Mr. Manning's story proves that truth which is shared in Holy Scripture. Adam and Eve's questioning God's commands soon had them eating the forbidden fruit. The jealousy of Joseph's brothers forced them to lie to their father and sell their little brother into slavery. The desire of Ananias and Sapphira to keep their money motivated them to lie to the Lord.
Yes, one sin leads to another.
And the solution to avoid such a sorry state of affairs? Simple: don't sin. Go ahead, give it a try. See how long you can last without breaking one or two or more of God's rules. You can't do it, can you? Of course you can't; none of us can.
This is why we sinners need the forgiveness that comes through the Savior's life, death, passion, crucifixion and resurrection. Through Jesus' work, all who believe on Him are saved, and their sins are washed away.
That's a good thing. That means we can confess our sins and God who is faithful and just will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. No longer do we have to try to cover up our wrongdoing; no longer do we need to commit a second, third or fourth transgression to cover the guilt of the first.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that You have been merciful to me a sinner. Now may I, forgiven by the Savior, lead a life in which sin does not give birth to more sin. To that end I pray the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. In the Name of the Savior I ask it. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
1 Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span[a] went out. 5 He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels[b] of brass. 6 He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a brass javelin between his shoulders. 7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron.[c] His shield bearer went before him. 8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. 12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest; and the three oldest followed Saul. 15 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17 Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah [d] of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle. 21 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and said the same words; and David heard them. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were terrified. 25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”
28 Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”
29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 30 He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way. 31 When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him. 36 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go! Yahweh will be with you.” 38 Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of brass on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go with these; for I have not tested them.” Then David took them off.
40 He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag which he had. His sling was in his hand; and he came near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 When the Philistine looked around, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field.”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn’t save with sword and spear; for the battle is Yahweh’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
48 When the Philistine arose, and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gai and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and to Ekron. 53 The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines and they plundered their camp. 54 David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent. 55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?”
Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I can’t tell.”
56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”
57 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?”
David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
18:1 When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even including his sword, his bow, and his sash. 5 David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. It was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. 7 The women sang to one another as they played, and said,
“Saul has slain his thousands,
David his ten thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?” 9 Saul watched David from that day and forward. 10 On the next day, an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David even to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
14 David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them. 17 Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.” 18 David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. 20 Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, “You shall today be my son-in-law a second time.” 22 Saul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly, and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore be the king’s son-in-law.’”
23 Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?”
24 The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”
25 Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the deadline, 27 David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. 28 Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him. 29 Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy continually. 30 Then the princes of the Philistines went out; and as often as they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Samuel 17:4 a cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. A span is the length from the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb on a man's stretched-out hand, about 9 inches or 23 cm. Therefore, Goliath was about 9 feet and 9 inches or 2.97 meters tall.
b. 1 Samuel 17:5 a shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 5000 shekels is about 50 kilograms or 110 pounds.
c. 1 Samuel 17:7 a shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 600 shekels is about 6 kilograms or about 13 pounds.
d. 1 Samuel 17:17 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
Luke 20:27 Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection. 28 They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. 29 There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless. 30 The second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31 The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. 36 For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[a] 38 Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.” 40 They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.
41 He said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42 David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’ [b]
44 “David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
45 In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts; 47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 20:37 Exodus 3:6
b. Luke 20:43 Psalm 110:1
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