(Clip) We Need To Lay Aside Our Besetting Sins

Here's King James, Hebrews 12, verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we're also compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that's set before us. Okay, this is the only place in the only translation where the Bible talks about besetting sin. So, basically what does beset mean? You can look that up on the blue letter. You can look at the actual meaning of the word. And you know what you're going to find? The term beset means to ensnare. Now, the New King James reads this way, the sin which so easily ensnares us. The New American Standard, the sin which so easily entangles us. Okay, so what about besetting sins and how they relate, or ensnaring sins, and how they relate to righteousness? Well, let's lay hold of the sword like our Lord did. Let's use it as an instrument of death to stab right into the heart of our own sin. You see, what you don't want to do is this. You don't want to say, this is not handling the sword right. You don't want to say, well the Bible talks about besetting sin, therefore besetting sin is something that Christians struggle with. Therefore me, constantly struggling with these certain things in my life, because the Bible talks about besetting sin, besetting sin must be pretty normative, okay, I'm okay. What does it have to say to righteousness? Well, obviously a Christian can struggle with besetting sin, because the King James Version at least, in Hebrews 12.1, says that besetting sins are a reality. And see, then you justify that you have besetting sins, because after all the Bible talks about them, so you're doing nothing more than what the Bible talks about, right? You want to use the sword like Christ did. He quoted what the Bible actually said about his own obedience to God. Let's actually see what 12.1 says about besetting sins. Since we are surrounded by all this list of Old Testament saints, in Hebrews 11, you see you don't want to read out of context. If we really want to get a good feeling for this, we want to read all about these saints that lived by faith in Hebrews chapter 11, and it says this, because we have all these people who made it. Let us lay aside, here's what you want to see, let us lay aside every weight, let us lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. I mean, do you see this? If we're honest about the text, and we take the sword into our hands, I mean, I would say this, come on Christians, let's play the man, let's play the woman. Take the sword of the Spirit into your hand, and if you do, then I would say this, do what Jesus did. You see, what Jesus would have done, if he was quoting this, is he would not have talked about besetting sin, as though somehow that's now, how does that go with righteousness? Well you know how besetting sin goes with righteousness? What's right? What's right is to do what Hebrews 12.1 says, and what is that? What does it say? Lay aside every weight in the sin. Lay aside, every translation says that, ESV, lay aside, KJV, lay aside, new KJV, lay aside, new American Standard, lay aside, over and over and over again, let us lay aside every weight in the sin that so easily besets. How do besetting sins fit with righteousness? Exactly in the way that it says. The righteous thing to do is to lay them aside. Now, you say what? You just say that to people? Yep. Why? Well, because that's what scripture says. Listen, handle your sword. What does scripture say about besetting sins? Or anything that entangles or ensnares? And you know what it's really saying? Every weight slows you down in the race. Every sin ensnares. The whole point is, it's not just like you have this certain category of sin that's a besetting sin. It's really saying that you need to lay aside all the sin because sin besets. Now, it's true, we may have certain aspects in our life that we're more prone to, but what does it say about it? Does it say basically, how does it match up to righteousness? Well, just this. The righteous thing to do is to lay it aside. You say what? Yeah, it says stop it. It doesn't even say pray about it. It doesn't say fast about it. It doesn't say seek counsel over it. It says put it away. What's this? The preacher's saying not to pray about it? Listen, you know full well. Scripture says we're to pray about all things. I highly commend regular fasting in your life, but you know what happens? We have a lot of Christians, a lot of Christians. It's simply procrastination and it's false humility to come along and say, you know, I'm struggling. You know what struggling is a lot of times? It's just another word for blatant disobedience. We're not doing what we're being told to do. Now look, put it away. You say what? I mean, but you aren't, listen, if we're going to wield the sword right, that's what it says. What it's saying is lay it aside. Of course, Christians should pray without ceasing, but far out too often, far too often, Christians have sin in their life. Now look, this is a reality because of the off look, the author is acknowledging that there is sin that besets, but what do we need to do with it? We need to lay it aside. Not just all of a sudden say, oh, we must be okay. No, righteousness is laying it aside because if you get people that have sin in their life and they never lay it aside, guess what? That's habitual. That's problematic. And you know what it says to us when Scripture says lay it aside? It means you can. That's basically what it's saying. Somebody says, well, I'm praying about it. I'm asking God to take it away. No, that is not what it says to do. Look at it. You can pray and you can ask God to help you, but what this is saying is you've got to do it. It doesn't say God's going to do it for you. It says God's going to empower you to do it as you seek to do it. I mean, one of the things you don't see in Hebrews 12.1 is you don't see prayer. No, the author of Hebrew, he goes straight to the point. You need to lay it aside. Do it. There's something violent about this because it's got to do with this sword. I mean, the sword, you remember what Jesus was doing with the sword. It wasn't that he was over there sticking the devil with it. What he was really doing with the sword is he was plunging it into any suggestion of disobedience on his part. He was actually quoting three times from Deuteronomy about what his own responsibility was before God. That is how to use his sword well. It is to constantly be able to quote what you ought to be doing in your life and do it. Just like Ezra did. He did. He dug. He searched. And what is it? I know the things. Look, for guys, it can be sexual temptation, but for all of us, it can come down to anger. It can come down to laziness. It can come down to not really appropriating our time well, mismanagement, being sucked away by the internet, and all of a sudden we wake up and we haven't been in the Word of God. It can be prayerlessness. It can be these different things, losing our temper with certain people. It can be envy. It can be jealousy. I know the things. Look, I'm made of the same stuff you are. But if we're going to be really honest in how we handle this sword, what's it saying? Lay it aside. That means you do inventory. You look at your life. What is it in your life that you're most apt to? There's something violent about this, and there ought to be. Why? Because we're talking about swords, and what do swords mean in the New Testament? It's got to do with putting things to death. There needs to be... Brethren, you know this. There's way too much procrastination in Christian circles, and it's false piety. People can seem very humble. You know, I've got these problems over here. But you know what? You get people that struggle with the same thing over and over and over and over again. When God is there telling them in His Word, set that aside. Set that aside. Lay that aside. Put the sword in it. Lay it aside. Now, I know you're going to declare to me you don't know how weak I am. I'm too frail. I'm too faint. I'm too pathetic. I'm too inexperienced. I'm too newly saved. I'm too sick. I'm in too dark a season. But the answer is this. I would just ask this. Have you been born again? See if we're really going to say what is... How does it fit with righteousness? I would say this. The way besetting sins fit with righteousness is you being honest about what those things are, and you go after them, and you lay them aside. Because that's what God tells you to do, and I guarantee you this. If God tells you to do it, once you start doing it, He's going to give you the power to do it. The problem is too often, we start praying. We bemoan the situation, and we ask God for help, and then we wait until we feel empowered. Don't do that. When Jesus says walk on the water, what you want to do is step out of the boat, and then you'll find the water holds you. It's not until you see the water all of a sudden doesn't look like water anymore, but now it looks like concrete, so I can step out on it. No, none of that. You step out in faith.