Temptation Is Easy. Resisting Is Hard. S22e8 Heb2:18

Temptation is universal, ongoing and PAINFUL. It is where the rubber meets the road in the reality of Christian living. Temptation is no longer painful when it is yielded to.

RESISTING TEMPTATION is so difficult it is described as SUFFERING. Yielding to temptation is easy. There is painful work to be done at the borders of holy living.

Here's the great news: we have HELP. Jesus has been there. He did this right. He resisted perfectly. He can totally sympathize with the difficulty, with the suffering. He PROMISES TO HELP those who are being tempted. Draw near to His throne of grace. Listen tomorrow too by subscribing at bewithme.us. Like on FB, x and insta.

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:01

Good morning, my brothers and sisters, welcome to episode number eight and be with me in the book of Hebrews. I'm going to title today, temptation is easy. Resistance is hard. We're in a section where he's wrapping up talking about angels being so great. And we found out yesterday that is not angels that he's helps, but he helps the offsprings of Abraham that is he helps people, he helps faithful people. And what does he help them with? Well, the two things he's talked about so far, which is sin and death, in death, he helps becomes because he becomes the death taster. And the death counts for you. And sin, he does so as a sacrifice that counts for you. Now, in a sense, those are sort of like for the future, the one that we're going to talk about today is very much present every day, every hour. And that is, the third thing he helps us with is temptation. And God helps us with temptation, and he helps us with it now, so he makes the statement about His presence and His help in this, listen to this, Hebrews three, verse 18. Four because he himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. So who are those that are being tempted? Well, it's, it's, it's everywhere. It's everybody. And what is temptation? Well, it's this testing of our souls. It's this, this, asking, or this nagging to step out of the protective boundaries that he has set for us. So for the, this is what I want to want you to think about, for your mind today, at the center of this circle is Jesus, and he's on the throne of grace. And then way out on the borders, there's this big red line. And on the other side, inside the border, is a holy living. And outside the border is everything else, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, all you all sins are summarized in that. That's from First John to 16th. Or another way that the Bible says that is the world's outside of there. And the Lord has a protective boundary. And he wants us to stay inside the boundary wants to stay in relationship with with them. And He wants us to run towards the center. But we're curious and want want to do things on the other side, they look good, they are alluring, at least they're supposedly alluring. And they the temptation is when something attracts us more than our desire for God. And it's a trap that tests our affection for sin, in its relationship to our affection for God. So the desire for sin, that temptation asks us to move outside that boundary. So there's this battle. And if you're human and listening to this, then you know this battle, or at least I hope you do, you know, this battle, because a borderless life is just a disaster. So this battle is going on, and it's universal, every person. And it's, you know, I'm exaggerating, probably say it happens always, but it's very frequent. Regarding holiness and sin, we all face this. And it's so critical and of importance to the story today is that Jesus fought this battle as well. So this red line is separating unholiness or rebellion, and anger and lust and all the other sins you can think of are outside of there. So it's universal, every person every you know, every every day, if not every hour. And the temptation is for you to move across the boundary, first of all, to move across with your thoughts, then across with your toe, and then your foot, and then eventually to kind of get get lost over there. Now this is easy, temptation is easy. You know, eating the m&ms of temptation is easy. But resisting to engage in resistance is the difficult part. So the resistance to crossing that border is described. In fact, it's so difficult, it's described here as suffering, that you will undergo pain at the Borderlands. Now the pain goes away if you yield to the temptation. So one of my hopes for you is I hope you have pain. I hope you have the suffering of resistance to temptation. So that's all just you know, gutting it out. But here's the great news. And don't miss this, that he is able to help us. That's the big point of today. So at this border, at your area of pain at your pain point of resistance to temptation, Jesus tells us, Hey, I've been there I've been tempted, I've suffered at that border. If you turn the page to chapter four verses 15, and 16, we do not have a high priest who was unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But one who won't ever respect has been tempted as we are. And then here's the important part, yet without sin. So let us then with confidence, draw nearer to the throne of grace. So run away from that, that red border, that we may receive mercy and find grace, to help in the time of need. So Jesus here, did the painful work at the border of sin. He's been there, he can sympathize. He's a real high priest. He's one who knows our weakness. He had the symptoms, the same temptations, and he did it perfectly. He did it without fault. So he suffered all the way through and kept suffering. So what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to run away from the border, we're supposed to draw nearer to the throne of gait grace, we're supposed to get help. And this is where the rubber meets the road of the reality of Christian living. So I hope that you suffer. I hope that you resist temptation. I hope that you turn and run as far away from that border as you can. Because not only do I hope that you suffer, but but especially I hope that you don't suffer alone. I hope that you allow the Lord who is able to sympathize with our weakness, who did it perfectly, was without sin, and asks you to let him help us at that border to help us turn and run back to the throne of grace. Thanks for listening.