Pursuing Jesus: Warring against Sin, Fighting for Joy
Hebrews 12:1-4
· READ text
· Example – Pusan perimeter
o June 25th, 1950, 75,000
North Korean soldiers pour over the border into S. Korea. And so starts the
Korean War
o The Korean War is often called the
“Korean Conflict”
o The U.S. comes to aid S. Korea, but
there’s a problem:
§ We’re not ready for war, we have a
peace-time mindset
§ We supply our troops with outdated
equipment & training
§ Result is we were pushed almost off
the continent
§ We weren’t ready for the battle
because we had just fought hard and wanted ease…and I think we spend a lot of
time that way as Christians…we lack vigilance when it comes to sin
· Have you thought about how the Bible
speaks in regards to fighting sin?
o This passage (and many others) speaks
of a potential bloody struggle
o The NT equates it to war
o What do we really believe?
o Why is there seemingly so little
victory in the Church?
§ We’ve made peace with our sin
§ We didn’t understand the battle
· Three things this morning:
o Understand the conflict
o Understand the rules of engagement
o Understand the goal
· What are these?
o The conflict – is a race in the midst
of a war
o The rules of engagement
§ running a race that is fighting for
joy
§ battlefield – is the mind
§ (didn’t see that one coming)
o But, most important: The goal – is a
person
o To miss any one of these you are
likely to lose the war
§ not for your salvation, but for your
joy!
· Understand the conflict – a race in
the midst of a war
o A race
§ (v:1b) “and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”
§ (1 Corinthians 9:24a) “Do you not know that in a race all the
runners run...”
§ Where is this race set? That’s
important
o In a war – is it biblical?
§ (2 Corinthians 10:3) “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.”
§ (James 4:1) “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this,
that your passions are at war within you?”
§ (1 Peter 2:11) “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the
passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
§ (1 Timothy 1:18) “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my
child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by
them you may wage the
good warfare.”
o So if we’re at war, we’re soldiers
§ You’re a soldier
§ (2 Timothy 2:3) “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
§ (2 Timothy 2:4a) “No soldier gets entangled in civilian
pursuits”
§ entangled = to become involved in an
activity to the point of interference with another activity or objective
o Believe me, Satan takes this more
seriously than we do
· Understand the rules of engagement – running
the race is a fight for joy takes place in the battlefield of the mind.
o Fight for joy
§ Joy is not an emotion as much as it
is a state of the soul
§ That is Paul’s context for Philippians,
because where is he?
§ (Philippians 3:1 & 4:4) “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you…Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
§ Where is Paul when he writes this?
§ (8 times in 4 chaps so 4:8 =
persecution)
§ In the midst of persecution there can
be joy
§ (1 Timothy 6:12a) “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold
of the eternal life to which you were called”
¨ the eternal life – the gospel
¨ preach the gospel to yourself daily,
hourly, moment by moment
§ This active not passive, how else do
we fight for joy and against sin:
§ Don’t run the race alone
¨ (1 Corinthians 12:26) “If one member suffers, all suffer together;
if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
¨ Marathon vs. relay
¨ Competing against not with
¨ Exhausted vs. invigorated
§ (1 Corinthians 9:24) “Do you not know that in a race all the
runners run…? So run that you may obtain it.”
¨ (Go back to (verse 1) “lay aside
every weight…”
¨ What’s worse is your running alone, a
marathon in boots…
¨ Jesus said, “If your right hand…”
Ø do what?
Ø put a Band-Aid on it?
Ø No, cut it off
Ø Remember “Fireproof” when Kirk
Cameron throws out…
§ Sometimes it will be that drastic
physically, but mostly:
o Where the battle is – the mind
§ A battle for truth – all too often we
think it is moral, exterior conformity, when sin is really raging inside of us,
and is the seat of our sin
§ (Matthew 15:18-20) ‘ “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds
from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For
out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
theft, false witness, slander. 20 These
are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile
anyone.” ’
§ It’s a battle in the mind first
§ (Romans 7:23) “but I
see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making
me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
¨ Doing what? Waging war!
¨ Paul, is writing 20 some years after
his conversion
¨ Lasting change come from right belief
(that’s why the Xian life is, “Repent and Believe the gospel”
§ What does this look like?
¨ Argue with your spouse
Ø You walk away and start thinking, “if
they cared, they would have_____ (most likely you’re thinking agreed!)”
Ø You now get angry, then hurt
Ø You sulk from self-pity
Ø God, why? I deserve better!
Ø You are sinning, you let the lie
develop and gain ground
¨ Now, the battle for Truth:
Ø my spouse loves me
Ø we simply disagree
Ø God’s honor is more important than me
being right
Ø What is God wanting to do in my life?
¨ I shared at Bible study and the
leader disagreed with me, and obviously in public
Ø I start thinking, “You don’t know as
much as you think”
Ø I bet there are other people who
agree with me
Ø This isn’t a loving place
¨ Truth
Ø I never looked at the passage that
way before, but I’ll give it an honest chance
Ø God places teachers to help me grow
in my walk
Ø I am more concerned with how others
view me than how God sees me
§ (Romans 12:2a) “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
your mind”
§ (2 Corinthians 10:5b) “…we are taking every thought captive to the
obedience of Christ” [NASB]
§ To get to truth I MUST fight for it
· Understand the goal – Jesus Himself
o (v:3) consider Him…that you may not
grow weary
o How often do you just want Jesus?
§ Friday morning
§ I realize how little I desire that
§ Like Mary to sit at His feet
§ rids me of fear and worry and
frustration
o A world free of difficulty without
Jesus? That’s really what most of us are shooting for, we just can bring
ourselves to admit it
o Why do I act like this? It’s because
I really believe: “I AM BETTER THAN YOU”
§ You have a handout
§ We live like this because we don’t
battle for truth in a way that makes the gospel the central part of our lives
§ I need to be more concerned about my
pursing Jesus than your faults
§ I have a system of Christianity and
you fall outside of it, I have a rule for everything
§ I’m OCD
¨ If you have this, it can be really
hard to give grace
¨ clothes (hangers)
¨ eating food
¨ arranging books (Eric moves them)
¨ order in my life (MY order is the
standard for others)
o What I’ve really done is replaced
Jesus
§ We can do that with very good things
§ When good things are bad
¨ I read my Bible every day
¨ I pray for 30 minutes
¨ I only read non-fiction
§ I replace fighting the war with a
peacetime lack of vigilance
§ It is actually more tiring than
fighting the war:
o (Colossians 2:21-23) “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things
that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an
appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and
severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of
the flesh.”
o Unless all our hope is built on
Jesus, and His righteousness, it’s just religion, not Christianity
o Believe the gospel of grace is what
really saves you, and sanctifies you…and it’s as good as it sounds, even though
it sounds too good to be true!
o Revel in it, soak in it = (verses on
table, etc.)
o If you’re weary, it’s probably not
Christianity; so Come to Jesus, and fight, make war in His strength to battle
against sin and fight for joy.
o Remember:
o (Hebrews 12:4) “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of
shedding your blood.”
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