Here are some notes from a lesson I shared with some teens and young adults at my church this Sunday.
I. The Cycle of Temptation (Prov. 24:16)
- Weak Flesh + Wicked World + Satan’s Work = Continual Temptation
- We try to resist ~ we fail and fall into sin ~ we get up & resolve to do better ~ but we fail again….
- This can lead us to lose heart, to give up and give ourselves to sin, or to be discouraged and even lose our faith
II. Resources for Temptation
- Memorizing and learning God’s Word — Ps. 119:9,11
- Watchfulness and Prayer — Matt. 26:41
- Faith — 1 John 5:4, 1 Pet. 5:9
- Godly Friends — Heb. 3:12-14
- God does provide a “way of escape” — 1 Cor. 10:13
- God uses temptation to work good in our lives — James 1:2-17
III. The Proper Perspective for Facing Temptation (Heb. 12:1-17)
1. The Christian Life is like a Long, Grueling Marathon — vs. 1
- Not a quick sprint, the battle with sin is long and hard
- Sin trips us up, and some non-sinful things can slow us down
- We need endurance, to be in it for the long haul
- It can be done, others have finished before us they testify to God’s grace, and they watch us finish our race
2. Our Focus needs to be on Christ, our Captain — vs. 2-3
- Focusing on our failures and problems doesn’t solve anything, look away from ourselves to what Christ has done
- Christ initiated our faith and will bring it to completion
- When we fall, we must cling to the Gospel not self-effort
- Jesus resisted sin “for the joy that was set before Him” we can also live now in light of Heaven’s joys (Phil. 3:13-14, 2 Pet. 3:11-14, Heb. 11:10, 13-16, 26)
- Live in light of what is supremely true — that is faith
3. Battling sin is a struggle — like a boxing match — vs. 4
- We haven’t even lost any blood in our match (others have)
- There isn’t a magic “lose interest in sin” pill
- Everyone struggles not just you (1 Cor. 10:13)
- But with time, you can mortify sins and the battle gets easier (Rom. 8:13)
- “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” — John Owen
4. Fighting sin is part of God’s discipline of his children — vs. 5-11
- The trials of the Hebrew Christians primarily are in view when the author speaks of God’s “discipline”
- But discipline is training or teaching as much as punishment
- Vs. 4 “struggle against sin” , vs. 10 “share his holiness” , vs. 14 “strive for… holiness” as well as the weakness in vs. 12-13 argue for the battle against sin as being part of this “discipline”
- So, this means the fight against sin (which isn’t easy), is part of what God ordains for us to make us holy
- The struggle isn’t fun now, but it results in fruit (vs. 11)
- And if you don’t experience this struggle, you just might not be a true son of God because every son experiences the struggles against sin
- Be encouraged if you are struggling — that’s actually a good sign. Non-believers don’t struggle with sin
- Take heart that God is behind our trials and temptations, and He wants them to mature us (James 1:2-4, 12-17)
5. Having this perspective on temptation, take heart! — vs. 12-13
- We are tempted to give up and the race makes us weary — but take heart
- Is. 35:3-4 is quoted: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come… He will come and save you.'”
6. Fighting sin is a team-sport — vs. 14-15
- It’s like Tour-de-France, many members working toward the one goal of the victory — we look out for each other
- Some can fall short, and miss out on God’s sustaining grace.
- So we need to encourage each other (Heb. 3:12-14, 10:22-25)
7. The fight against sin does have real casualties — vs. 15-17
- Holiness is required to see God — vs. 14 (and Matt. 5:8)
- Some do fall away “bitter roots” (Deut. 29:18) & Esau — he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew (we are as foolish!)
- Ultimately, the grace of God keeps us. Trust Him when you fail and sin. But take heart God’s not done with you!
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This Sunday we met as a family for worship, since our church was closed due to precautions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We followed our church’s “home worship order” (or liturgy) but also listened to a sermon I gave on James 1 back at the end of 2013. I shared the sermon notes and audio back in 2012 when I first delivered the sermon at a different church. I wanted to share this version of the sermon (preached at our current church) today for those who may want to hear an encouraging word on the Christian and trials.
I was privileged to ring in the new year by filling the pulpit for our pastor, this past Sunday. As we look forward to what this new year holds for us, there’s only one thing we can be certain of. Life will present its challenges for us in the months ahead. This may be sobering but it doesn’t have to be alarming. In fact, James teaches that trials are actually God’s good gifts to us, intended to mature us and prove our faith to be genuine.