Magnets
(Temptation)
(Sin)
 
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?  Can a man walk on hot coal without his feet being scorched?  Proverbs 6:27-28
 
The Basic Bible Truth
 
We are all born with a sin nature.  It is despicable and plagues us every day of our lives.  We look at the everyday things around us, and know very well the good from the bad.  But our sin nature is fascinated by the bad things and drawn to them.  We are tempted to sin.  That in itself is not a sin.  Yielding to temptation is the problem.  Too often we are like the old cow in the pasture, pushing at the fence, trying to get a little bit more grass on the other side.  We play the game of how close can I get and not get burned by sin.  That is a very dangerous game to play.
 
The Object
 
Two Large Magnet Spheres 2” Diameter
(These Are Genuinely Dangerous—Not A Toy)

​I bought two 2 inch diameter neodymium magnets online.  These are powerful enough to cause serious damage to hands and fingers.  Mine are rated to pull at about 200 pounds each, so if they touch each other, it requires roughly 400 pounds of pressure to pull them apart.  I have accidentally had this very problem occur, and it took me 15 minutes to break them apart.  The magnetic field around them will cause observable disturbances in about a two to three foot diameter.  They will fry a cellphone or a watch.  Needless to say, I, and only I, handle them in public. 
 
The Lesson
 
I have brought with me today, two of the most fascinating toys that I have in my toy box.  This is a 2 inch neodymium magnet.  And this is my other one.  My wife hates these things.  She will not be in the same room with me when I get them out.  I have seen her get up and walk away when I carry these into the room.  She knows what these are, and is not only scared of them, she doesn’t want to even be around them at all.  But look at these innocent little balls of metal.  They are only 2 inches in diameter, how much damage could they do?  And look how bright and shiny they are.  They are actually kind of pretty.  You can even see yourself in them.  Just two shiny metal balls.  What’s wrong with that? What could possibly go wrong?
 
All too often, we look at sin the same way I am looking at these two little metal spheres.  I can handle them ok.  I’ll be careful.  I know what I’m doing.  I won’t get hurt.  Last words before falling headlong into sin.  Sin is enticing.  It may even look pretty and fun and exciting.  Satan has had thousands of years to perfect his craft.  He is a master at taking that which is good and right, and mixing in just enough wrong to cause us trouble.  It’s like a recipe for a cake.  Add all of the ingredients together—plus one small drop of arsenic—and you have a serious problem on your hands. 
 
But we have a propensity for sin even if Satan is not the instigator.  There was a comedian years ago who played a recurring character, and when that character was caught doing something wrong, his response was, “The Devil made me do it.”  Theologically, that is not a correct statement.  We flirt with sin, we get close to it because we have a sin nature that is naturally drawn that direction.  God warned Cain in Genesis that sin was something that he needed to learn to master, or it would master him.  We are no different, even as Christians; we still struggle.
 
These two metal balls are extremely dangerous.  I had to sign a waiver with the company that I purchased them from before they would even sell them to me.  Neodymium is the strongest permanent magnet currently available.  These two balls have a magnetic field surrounding them about the size of a very large beach ball.  I cannot wear a watch when playing with them, and I certainly must put my cellphone far away.  According to the internet site where I purchased these, they are rated to pull at 200 pounds each.  If they touch together, and believe me, it would be a very sudden touch, they would be stuck together with 400 pounds minimum to pull them apart.  I have done it twice just out of curiosity.  The last time, it took me 15 minutes to get them pulled apart.  Imagine what would happen to a hand or a finger that got in the way of these two.  It would be like putting a four hundred pound weight in the palm of your hand—not pretty.
 
The only demonstration I will do with these two for you today is a somewhat safe one.  I will lay one of these on a wood tabletop and hold the other high in the air with my hand.  As I bring them closer together, watch closely, and you will see when their magnetic fields begin to interact with each other.  At about 2 feet apart notice, when I turn the ball in my hand, the other one on the table reacts by rotating the opposite direction.  There is much going on here that we cannot see, but is there.
 
We don’t always see all of the dangers involved with playing with sin.  But the danger is there, God has tried to clue us in on how He feels about sin.  The wages of sin is death.  That is a very strong statement.  May we heed His warnings and stay far away from sin, in fact, let’s flee from it.
 
 
 
 
 
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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