Facing Temptation — Hebrews 12

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!