[0:00] I want Jesus to walk with me. That's a good prayer.
[0:11] And you need to know he's more willing to walk with you than we are to have him walk with us. The grace of God has procured for us a relationship with Jesus, the living God.
[0:24] He will walk with you. He will walk with you. Child of God, he is walking with you. You are not alone ever.
[0:38] We're finishing our Christmas series, yes, the 20 days of Christmas. And today. So we're returning once again to Hebrews chapter 2.
[0:54] Father, as we come to your word, will you help us? We've been studying how Jesus became like us to help us.
[1:06] And he helps us in the most important way. He saves us. He gives us himself, his spirit in us. And that spirit, thank you, Holy Spirit, is at work.
[1:22] Will you please now be at work as we preach your word and as we hear it preached. This is not a lecture. It is the preaching of your word, Father.
[1:37] And you have designed the preaching of your word to pierce the hearts of your people. And all who hear, you have designed the preaching of your word to bear fruit.
[1:48] The preaching of the cross, which is great foolishness to the world. But yet you have said it's the power of God. So, Lord, anoint your servant. Because he has no power.
[2:01] No real wisdom. All that he has comes from you. And it's from your book. So, speak to your people.
[2:13] Speak to all who have ears to hear. Save some. Correct some. Help some. Transform some.
[2:25] Have your holy will be done. May we not leave here the same. Because we've been in your presence. In Jesus' name.
[2:38] Amen. Hebrews. Chapter 2. Again, I'm going to read the section. Verse 14.
[2:50] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood. Since we're human. He himself. The son of God, that is. Likewise partook of the same things. As the flesh and blood.
[3:02] That through death. He might destroy the one who has the power of death. That is the devil. First thing he does. Second. And deliver all those. Who through fear of death.
[3:12] Were subject to lifelong slavery. That's us free. For surely it is our angels that he helps. But he helps the offspring of Abraham. Who are also by faith.
[3:24] The offspring of God. Sons of God. Therefore. Made like us. He had to be made like his brothers. Like us. In every respect.
[3:36] Totally human. So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. In the service of God. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. He might represent us to God.
[3:47] Our text. Part two to our text. For because he himself has suffered when tempted. He is able to help those who are being tempted.
[4:01] That's a lot of help there. That is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Once again.
[4:12] Thank you. Praise team. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. We have such good music here. Brothers and sisters. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Dr. King labored.
[4:31] And died. For the rights of African Americans. And all people. To be given respect. Freedom.
[4:43] And opportunity. In this country. Not because of the color of their skin. But because they are created. In the image of God.
[4:58] The image of God. Racism. Classism. Tribalism. You know where they begin? With temptation.
[5:11] Temptation. We are all tempted. To believe we are better. Or that others are inferior. In some way. We're all tempted to do that.
[5:28] In racism. In this country. It is based upon the color of one's skin. In the book. I believe it was the book. Just Mercy. So if I'm wrong. Let me know.
[5:39] But I'm pretty sure I'm correct. We find that. The author talks about the fact. That white lawmaker. White law enforcement officers. And district attorneys.
[5:50] Believe they could tell. Black men were guilty. And evil. Just by looking at them. You remember that? Men falsely accused. What were they looking at?
[6:11] And new laws. Don't change human hearts. That are committed to evil. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm 60 years old this year.
[6:24] I'm as old as the Civil Rights Act. Which was signed the year I was born. Ain't that long ago.
[6:36] Where Jim Crow was the law of this land. Here in the South. Laws don't change hearts. Right. You do the math.
[6:47] Right. The horrible and destructive temptations of racism and prejudice which have marred our nation since before its founding are only ultimately defeated when hearts are transformed as people submit themselves to the word of God.
[7:10] Amen. I said ultimately. Changes can happen. Don't get me wrong. People do change without Jesus. They make some changes. But you can't change the heart.
[7:22] With laws. Morality. Or counseling. Can't change the heart. That's the work of the spirit moving through the word of God.
[7:34] Only God can change a heart. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Dr. King preached a sermon.
[7:48] I have a book, so two book of his sermons, and one of them is called Our God is Able. I just want to give you a piece of this. This is really encouraging. He said, at the center of the Christian faith is the conviction that in the universe, there is a God of power who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, abundant things in nature and in history.
[8:14] This conviction is stressed over and over in the Old and New Testaments. Theologically, this affirmation is expressed in the doctrine of the omnipotence of God, all power of God.
[8:26] The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil.
[8:42] The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able. God is able.
[9:00] We need help to deal with our temptations to sin, including racial prejudice. We need help. And help came for us at Christmas in the person of Jesus.
[9:17] He is able. Whatever temptation you're dealing with, He is able. But do you need help?
[9:32] Do you need help? Are you willing to admit you really need help? Amen. And not Kevin Smith's help.
[9:46] Are you willing to admit you need God's help? You need the help of the Lord Jesus. You see, that's what it means to follow Him.
[9:59] I need help. We saw last time, our Lord is able, is made like us to help us resist temptation.
[10:10] He was tempted as we are, but never failed. We are tempted because our desires are lured away into that which God forbids, or where our hearts are lured away to use good things that are not our right to use at the moment.
[10:29] Or to use good things in an unhealthy way, making much of the creature rather than the creator who gave the gift.
[10:41] Right? Our hearts are the issue, and the devil is the master con artist who deceives us into thinking that we must have what He swings in front of our senses.
[10:55] How did our Lord resist temptation? We looked at what temptation was. We looked at the hook and how that temptation grabs us. We looked at that last time, but the question is, how did our Lord deal with temptation?
[11:10] And we're going to look at two scenes from the Gospels that show us one in particular. Because this is what the pattern of victory He gives looks like.
[11:24] This is what He will help you do. Our Lord resisted these temptations by first of all relying upon the Word of God. I read the passage last time.
[11:36] I didn't really walk you through it, but allow me to do more this morning. Again, we're dealing with that verse that says that He was tempted as He suffered. Temptation like us.
[11:48] We're dealing with that concept. Hebrews doesn't tell us all that story. So I have to go to places where I see it in the Scripture, okay? So I'm not proof texting as someone once said.
[12:02] I'm showing you what that verse is talking about. Okay, you with me? So, Matthew 4. Back there again. If you have a Bible, you can turn there, but some parts will be on the script.
[12:16] Some parts will be on the screen. Matthew chapter 4. This is mortal combat. Amen. Jesus is in the...
[12:26] He's been fasting, remember, for 40 days. Now, verse 3. The tempter came to him and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
[12:37] But he answered, It is written, Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[12:49] Here he's quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, which we'll turn to in a minute. And he's parrying. If you know anything about fencing or sword fighting, when you're attacked, you can use your weapon to parry the thrust of the enemy.
[13:04] That's what the Lord does. He's... The devil's a swordsman. And he comes at the Lord and he attacks him. And Jesus parries the attack.
[13:15] And these attacks are aimed at his heart. He's being tempted in terms of provision, power, and protection.
[13:28] Will he rely on God or someone else? When our Lord was near death from hunger, 40 days of fasting, he was being tempted to turn stones into bread.
[13:38] And he quotes Deuteronomy 8.3. It's on your screen. Here it is. And he humbled you. This is God speaking. This is Moses speaking about what God did in the wilderness with the Israelites. He humbled you and let you hunger.
[13:54] Are you listening to the word of God? He, God, that's capital He, humbled you and He let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know.
[14:13] He's teaching that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus is quoting from that passage.
[14:27] Israel's hunger was God's idea. It was a test to see if they would trust in Him to provide for their needs.
[14:41] Jesus, our Lord, is saying He will trust in God near death after 40 days of fasting. He will trust in God for His daily bread. He knows.
[14:53] Remember, the temptations are attacking the fact, are you really the Son of God? That's what Satan says twice and third time is implied. He's saying to Jesus, do you really know?
[15:06] Jesus is saying He knows He's God's Son and that His Father, and because He is God's Son, He knows His Father will provide. The Son of God committed Himself to live as one of us.
[15:20] So to use divine power, turn the stones into bread, to satisfy His needs at the devil's request would nullify Him as our example.
[15:34] And more than that, but that's what He is too. It would nullify. Because we can't do that. When you're hungry, you can't turn stones into bread. He is functioning like one of us, made in every way like us.
[15:52] And what He is doing in this moment of deepest need, His need was so deep He could feel it in His body. He is showing us.
[16:08] He is living on every word that comes from His Father's mouth. He is showing us I will have less or I will have much by the Father's decree.
[16:19] And I'm okay with that. I will have plenty or I will be in need. If that's God's will for me, He's saying, Amen.
[16:33] His physical craving, His physical desires, listen, will not be allowed to control His obedience. He is content with God's will and word for His life.
[16:48] Now here is the question. Are you? You see, this is where we're tempted. Is this not where we're tempted? When we have strong desires, strong needs, strong cravings, that is when we are most susceptible to do something that violates the word of God in order to get what we think we need.
[17:13] See, too often we disobey God to satisfy our desires or so-called needs. Jesus takes up our humanity so that by trusting in Him who triumphed, we can have hope.
[17:31] Only God's word, God's way, only God's way, can bring us true, lasting satisfaction.
[17:45] If you try to satisfy your cravings and desires in contrary, contrary to the word of God, you will end up with spiritual Twinkies.
[17:56] and a diet of Twinkies of any kind will leave you malnourished and eventually dead.
[18:13] I don't know about you. I don't want no stinking Twinkies. I want what God's best is for me. I want His steak.
[18:27] Filet mignon. That is steak, right? Okay. Can't afford it. Medium.
[18:39] None of that well-done foolishness. You don't eat a steak well-done. Perfectly cooked in His juices.
[18:50] That's what God is offering us. I want His bread. I want His food. Because then I'm full. Come on, somebody.
[19:01] I feel you. Yes, I united. Thank you. Amen. You're with me. All right, that's one. Second, when tempted to show the world that He's the Son of God by the devil says, jump off the highest point of the temple.
[19:12] Now, that's a very fascinating thing. Verse 6, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, He will command His angels concerning you and on their hands it will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone.
[19:26] He took them up to the pinnacle of the temple, the highest point of the temple, and says, hey man, do a bungee. Bungee jump. God will catch you and boom, pop you back up.
[19:37] Okay. Hmm. Jesus, the devil actually, is quoting from Psalm 91.
[19:49] Psalm 91, 11 and 12. Here it is. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone.
[20:01] That's what the devil is quoting. Psalm 91. But the devil, as he likes to do, is twisting the meaning of Scripture out of context to lead our Lord to destruction.
[20:13] In the Psalm, God is not telling the Psalmist to jump off, to jump off a cliff. He's not telling the Psalmist to test Him. But because, he's saying this, go back and read the Psalm, but because the Psalmist is trusting in God as His dwelling place and refuge, meaning His protection, God says, of His own accord, He will cause His angels to watch over Him.
[20:43] He said, because you trust Me. If you're trusting Me for protection, I'll send angels to help you. The devil says, he twists it.
[20:53] Brothers, please read the Bible in context. Read it carefully. Because this is how we get messed up time and time again. The devil's still doing the same thing.
[21:07] Twisting Scripture so that we read out of context, watch this, to get what we desire. If our Lord had given in, this would have forced the Father's hand to save Him, it seems.
[21:25] Thus, He would be manipulating the Father, putting the Father to the test. Satan is telling Jesus that you can know for sure that you're God's Son.
[21:39] That what He said at your baptism is true. Remember what He said at His baptism? He said this last week? This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Jesus heard him say that. This is right after that.
[21:50] He heard him say it. He knew it's true. He knew it before then, but He knew it, but He was affirmed. God affirmed Him. His Word was spoken. His Word was given. That was enough. But now the devil's saying, you know, demand a sign from God to prove that you really are His Son.
[22:07] You know, I know He said it, but did He really mean it? And this would have been a public test too. Because to go up in the temple and jump, that was not a spiritual, invisible thing.
[22:21] That was to go up visibly, stand in the temple, dive off, and have the angels catch Him at the end in front of the people. And the people would have said, oh!
[22:34] As He floated down to safety, they would have said, oh my gosh, this must be the Messiah, the Messiah. And maybe they would have put their faith in Him.
[22:48] Right? You see, we're tempted to put God to the test too. God has spoken. But like donut Christian, we keep driving around the block waiting for our parking space to open up.
[23:07] If you really meant it, Lord, if you really mean what this says here, if you really mean it, do this.
[23:20] You know, when Gideon did the fleece thing, remember that? Gideon and the fleece. You've all heard that. Sunday school, Gideon and the fleece. That was not a command for us to follow His example.
[23:34] That was God showing great grace to a very flawed leader. He did it again with Gideon.
[23:45] Gideon was, before God was telling Gideon, you're 300 men, I want you to go and attack. And Gideon, and the night before the attack, God comes to Gideon and says to him, this is my, I love this.
[23:58] He says, if you are still afraid, go down to the camp and listen. Do you see the grace? He knows we're flawed and he comes to Gideon again.
[24:13] This is God's initiative. He comes to Gideon and says, and when he went down to the camp, he heard the guys talking about how afraid they were of Gideon and how afraid, how they thought they were going to die and that gave Gideon encouragement.
[24:28] Yeah, he knows we're flawed. He knows we're weak leaders and weak people. He knows all of that. But he still, he still says, trust my word.
[24:41] What did I say? God has spoken clearly in his word, but if you really want me to do it, cause this to happen. Listen, faith in God as our father through the work of Jesus that demands nothing to prove he loves us.
[25:00] He's already proved it. Amen. Amen. Christmas. Easter. He's already proved he loves us.
[25:11] The coming of the son is proof, was proof enough. But then the son goes to the cross that he might save all those who've messed their lives up, who know they're messed up, who know they are far from God, who know they sinned, who know they can't get themselves together, who maybe in their self-righteousness thought they were all that, but then they begin to realize they're not.
[25:33] He came from folk like that. He came from screw-ups like Kevin Smith. He came from mess-ups like some of you. Now, some of you were better than the rest of us, I understand, but you know. We don't ask God to prove himself.
[25:54] We accept the proof he's already given. We bank our lives on the proof that he's already given. The cross is good enough.
[26:06] Phil Reichen, my brother, says, Satan tempts us to base our attitude towards God on our personal experience. I'm having a big one.
[26:22] Rather than on the promises of God's word, we make our comfort and safety the measure of God's love. We live by sight and not by faith.
[26:37] Christmas and the cross is our guarantee that God will keep his promises to all of his children. So, the question you must ask yourself is, am I a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ?
[26:52] That's the question you have to ask. I have to ask, who am I? Have I met him? Did he come get me?
[27:05] Has he shown up, blown up in my life? you don't have to tempt the Lord.
[27:19] Lastly, the third temptation, when tempted to receive the kingdoms of the world without the cross, if he would just bow the knee to Satan. Verse 7, again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to temptation.
[27:32] Verse 8, again the devil took him to a very high mountain. Showed it, now this is a miraculous vision. He's using his demonic powers to show, I don't think Jesus just looked at Israel, he was showing Jesus, gave him a panoramic view of the world as it were.
[27:48] Showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said to them, all these I will give you, that includes their glory, if you will fall down and worship me.
[27:59] And he says, be gone Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. He's quoting from Deuteronomy 6, 13 to 15.
[28:11] Here's the whole section there. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you.
[28:24] For the Lord your God is in your midst, is a jealous God. Oprah, listen carefully. He's not jealous of you. But he is zealous.
[28:41] That word jealous also means the same word, zealous. Like a husband and a wife are zealous for each other's faithfulness. Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you and he destroy you from all the face, from off the face of the earth.
[29:02] Him you shall fear. The living God, the God, the creator of all things who saved us. He says, you shall fear him, you shall serve him, you shall swear in his name.
[29:12] In other words, you shall worship only him. You shall not be a spiritual adulterer and give your heart to the idols around us.
[29:24] We are, and we are saturated. Brothers and sisters, we live in idol land. It's called America. We are surrounded and saturated with false gods promising us the good life constantly, bombarded, social media, TV, radio, wherever, walking down the street.
[29:45] We are surrounded by the idols of this age. Yeah, they're not statues that when you burn incense, when we say that we're in Bali, we saw statues where people were burning incense.
[29:56] That's not, in America, we got some of that, but that's not, it's more subtle. subtle. It's much more subtle. It's good things that become ultimate things.
[30:11] What I mean by that, it's good things that God has given and we say, now I must have this good thing or else my life is nothing. I must have this good thing and I will do anything for this, to have this good thing.
[30:27] That's idolatry. Amen. Jesus is saying that the word of God forbids me to serve any other so-called gods that promise me power or anything, power and glory.
[30:44] He was promising Jesus power and glory. Two of our greatest idols. Power and glory. We live for it.
[30:57] It's the air we breathe. Power and glory. The ability to do what we want, usually with money. Usually money is part of that. Glory.
[31:08] Everybody looks up to us. That's why, I'm going to use this loosely but if it's you, take it. That's why you are so attracted to social media and posting. Because you want glory.
[31:25] Look at your social media. I'm applying the script. I'm applying the idea. Okay? Look at your social media posts. What are they about? Your picture.
[31:39] What you're doing. Who you're with. The cool thing you read and said. You just, you just, you, I don't know.
[31:50] I'm just saying. And Pastor Billy made me say it. I'm telling you. He was his idea. I just, I said, this is Kevin Smith. This is your pastor challenge you.
[32:01] What are your social media posts about? Facebook. What do you post? Twitter. X. Why didn't he call it K? I don't know. Anyway.
[32:12] What do you post? What do you post? Is it always your picture? How good you look or you think you look? Notice why you want the glory.
[32:32] You want people to look at you and go, wow. You want people to be amazed at where you've been, where you're going, what you've done that they haven't done.
[32:46] I'm just asking you to think about it. I could be totally wrong. That's not in the text, the scripture. It's an application I'm trying to make but I think I'm on to something.
[33:00] Glory. He said, Jesus, you could rule the world right now. You could rule the world and have all the power and the glory without suffering the cross, Jesus. No cross for you.
[33:12] I don't know what Satan knew at this point. Did he know Jesus was going to the cross? But Jesus knew. He knew he could have the glory of the kingdoms, the very thing that he will have.
[33:23] He could have it now and he wouldn't have to go to the cross. Full record again says, we are also tempted to seek earthly glory and gain rather than to suffer for the cause of Christ.
[33:40] It's amazing what we will do to avoid suffering, even suffering for Jesus. Because in the end, we want the power and the glory.
[33:54] The enemy was aiming at our Lord's hearts, offering him what he desired. The devil and his demons tailor-made temptation for you. But our Lord submitted his desires to the word of God.
[34:08] James 4, 7, draw near to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you. Remember? Our Lord's doing this. He's drawing near to the Father through the word, submitting his desires and wills and wants and future to the Father.
[34:25] Father, the scriptural quotations that he quotes are a reflection of his heart and his desire. He wants the will. He's saying, I want totally God's will be done.
[34:38] And this is where we live. We have to live here with him. Bring our desires under the authority of God's word. Doesn't mean you don't have them. Of course you do. It's not wrong to have desires.
[34:50] Amen. But bring them under the authority of God's word and way. And this is not just quoting scripture. Just quoting scripture won't save you.
[35:02] But it's the right word being brought to bear on the actual situation. That's where it's powerful. Powerful. Hebrews 4, 12, and 13, for the word of God.
[35:15] Why the word? Because the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
[35:28] And no creature, zero, no creature is hidden from his sight. The word sees. God sees. His word sees. But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
[35:42] The word exposes us. And evidently, it can also expose the devil. Yeah. Ha ha! You got a weapon.
[35:54] Ha ha! The sword of the spirit. Yeah. This thing is, it's all edge. It cuts right and left, backwards and forwards.
[36:05] It never gets dull. You don't have to, you don't have to sharpen it. But you do have to take it out of the sheath. Amen. Amen. Amen. And you got to swing it.
[36:17] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[36:28] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[36:40] Jesus took the master swordsman, a taxie enemy. Amen. Amen. See, the Word exposes our own wiring.
[36:52] It exposes our own weakness to certain sins. It is crucial that we sit under, I'm not trying to magnify my office, I'm trying to tell you the truth. It is crucial we sit under the preaching of the Word, the teaching of the Word, and the personal reading of God's Word constantly.
[37:09] You cannot grow as a Christian. You will always fall if you're not constantly under the Word. Amen, amen, amen. This is what makes me concerned about this deconstruction movement.
[37:23] Now, there's certain things we need to deconstruct. If you're trying to deal with traditions in the church and that kind of thing, maybe you feel like you've been caught up under legalism of some kind, and you're trying to get free of that kind of thing.
[37:41] If that's your deconstruction, more power to you. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. You cannot deconstruct if you do not know the Word of God.
[37:56] If you're not going to the Word and bringing it to bear on traditions or legalism or antinomian, that's license, loose living, in the name of, and call it grace.
[38:07] If you're not bringing what you're trying to deconstruct to the Word of God itself, then your deconstruction will become destruction. And I'm afraid so many people jumping on the fan wagon, here we go again, following trends and fads, and deconstructing are really destroying their faith because they don't know the Word.
[38:30] Amen, amen. Do you know the Word of God? Because the temptation is always to follow the crowd, follow the fan, follow the next big thing.
[38:43] The last thing was lamenting. We were all lamenting and lamenting. Before that, it was black. I mean, every few years, there's a new trend. And some of it's good stuff.
[38:53] But it's a trend, and we get caught up in it, and we're not taking it to the Word of God to really see what this means for living, period. We got to go, the Word, the better we know the living Word, the greater our hunger for the written Word.
[39:16] Did you hear me? The greater we know the living Word, the greater our hunger will be for the living Word. Jesus, loving him, will give us a love for what he has said.
[39:29] Loving the living Word will give us a hunger for this written Word. If I'm experiencing his love on a regular basis, I can't help but want to know what he has to say.
[39:40] Come on now. Y'all dated before. Some of you were married. You dated, and you know what it's like. When you care for somebody, you want to hear what they have to say. When you don't care what they have to say, you're probably not in love anymore.
[40:01] You mad, actually. Okay, I got to wrap this up. The second place, and then we're going to wrap this up. The Garden of Gethsemane.
[40:13] The second place of the temptation. Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus goes to the garden. It's the night of his betrayal. This is it.
[40:24] This is Matthew 26, by the way. Page 882 in your pew Bible. If you didn't bring a Bible with you, I hope you did. Still bring your Bible. I know we put, but still bring your Bible.
[40:35] Jesus is there. He says to his disciples, the 12 are with the 11. Excuse me, Jews are already gone out. The 11 are with him.
[40:46] He takes three of them. His inner circle, Peter, James, and John, says, come with me. He goes over. He says to them, watch with me.
[40:57] He goes away from them now to pray. And in that prayer, he's struggling. Luke says he starts sweating great drops of blood.
[41:10] That's how traumatic the situation was. Father, if this cup can pass for me, let it. Let this cup pass for me if it's possible.
[41:22] Anyway, if there's any other way, let this cup pass. Now listen, he wasn't talking about the death of the cross itself. Jesus was not, this is not afraid to die.
[41:32] Christians have gone to their death over the centuries singing, composed. Christians, even today. So it's not that he was afraid to die per se, but the cross meant more for him, doesn't it?
[41:46] Right? The cross meant that he would become sin, that he would take the sins of his people upon himself, that he, the second person of the blessed trinity who is holy, holy, holy, would take upon him and his human nature the sin of humanity.
[42:04] Can you, can you feel this? He, never, had he ever, sin could never touch him. He could not be tempted by sin, nor could he sin, because he is holy, holy, holy, everything always right.
[42:19] And now, and now, becoming like one of us to save us, he must take upon us all of our evil. And be separated from the Father.
[42:38] My God, my God, he cries at the cross, why has thou forsaken me? Never has the Son and the Father been separated, and then the cross, it will happen. that horror was enough to kill him.
[42:56] Sweating blood, there's a condition like that. Very, very rare. That's what's killing him. Is there any other way?
[43:09] But he prays, he's praying. You see, that's it. How's he dealing with this temptation? He's praying. He's not praying a little, little, little, well, Lord, if it be thy will, you know.
[43:28] No, he's praying. He's crying out to the Father. He's saying, Lord, this temptation is huge. I think it might have been worse than the first one.
[43:39] I don't know. But what does he do in that prayer? once again, he submits his will to the Father's will.
[43:53] Nevertheless, not my will be done, but thine. That's it. not my will.
[44:05] Not my will. Is there another way? I hate, I kind of tremble to say it. I'm nervous a little bit, but I think it's true.
[44:21] This is the only place in Scripture where I find the Father saying no to the Son. is there any other way?
[44:34] No. Okay. Okay, Father. Okay. I will be done.
[44:46] He finds his disciples sleeping. By the way, notice this. Learn this.
[44:56] Please learn this. When being tempted bitterly, get people to pray for you and with you. They failed. He tried.
[45:07] They failed. Peter. Couldn't you watch with me? That word, watch is repeated like three times in the test. Could you not watch with me for one hour, Peter? He picks up Peter because he's the leader of the bunch.
[45:20] And then he tells them, then he tells them, here it is for us. That was, see, first we learn by his example, now we learn and by precept. Then he tells them, watch and pray lest you fall into temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh, your humanity is weak.
[45:38] Your fallen humanity is weak. You see, they were weak. They fell asleep. They're weak. You're weak. Watch and pray.
[45:49] Watch has the idea of staying asleep. I mean, staying awake. That's what I mean, stay awake. But even more than that, it means stay alert. Keep, saints, keep your head on a swivel.
[46:08] watch. Watch. When you, your temptation is coming for you. Tailor-made for you. Tailor-made for your desires, your proclivities, your weaknesses.
[46:24] Temptation is coming for you. The enemy is coming. You have three enemies. The devil, the world, and your flesh. Your own fallen humanity. Listen, keep your head and the swivel because all of the temptation is not coming from out there.
[46:38] Some of it is coming from in here. I gotta watch me. Keep watch over yourselves. And for that, we need each other.
[46:51] That's why I love you, but if you're able to come to church, you don't have to come here. Go somewhere where the world is being preached because you're gonna, because you're being tricked and trapped.
[47:04] The enemy wants you alone. He wants you alone so he can eat you. He's a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
[47:15] I'm just quoting scripture. I need you to pray for me. I had two people praying for me this morning. I told them how I was feeling and they started praying for me.
[47:26] Brothers and sisters, yeah. Keep your head on a swivel. Watch. Watch. Watch your own heart. Watch. You know, you know you a little bit.
[47:41] And what you don't know will help you see. That's true. That's why we need each other. You can't see your stuff, Derek.
[47:51] You need Amy to point it out. You need your kids to point it out. You need me to come over to the shop and tell you, yep, you'll screw up. Yep. Because when I look in the mirror, I think I'm okay. I look in the mirror.
[48:03] Come on, sis. I look in the mirror. Sister Warren. I look in the mirror and I say, you know something? You're doing good today. And then I go talk to Freeman and he says, Kev, that ain't something wrong there, bro.
[48:27] but I was looking good in the mirror. We need each other to pray for each other. Right? To help me help each other apply the word.
[48:42] Watch and pray. Watch your own heart, your own desires. Know the word.
[48:53] Saturate yourself with the word of God. No, you don't know enough. Okay? I'm just telling you right now. Each one of you, I'm talking to everybody.
[49:05] Nobody escapes this. You don't know enough. You don't know enough. Where's my mirror? You don't know enough. None of us knows enough.
[49:19] He is constantly speaking, calling us to learn more. We don't know as much as we think we do. That's why we got to keep standing under the word, coming back to the word, saturating us off with the word of God, listening and applying the word.
[49:36] That's how we will grow in Jesus. And listen, be, be delivered from the hour of temptation. Yeah, we're going to mess up.
[49:47] I wish it wasn't so. But you live on this side of glory, you're going to fall. But my Bible tells me I can get back up.
[50:01] I don't have to stay down. Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His throne with spotless Him can keep you.
[50:18] He, Jesus, made like you, made like us. What are you being tempted with? I will tell you one of the greatest temptations, self-righteousness.
[50:32] were you the only one that's right? And everybody else, you're pointing out, if you're tempted to point out everybody else's flaws and what they're not doing, you're self-righteous.
[50:45] Repent. He's got you. Let, rebuke Him. Rebuke Him. Long as I look at your sins, I'm okay. It's a huge temptation.
[50:58] Huge temptation. Especially if you've been a Christian for a long time. May God deliver us from that. May God humble us as He did with the Israelites in the desert.
[51:13] He let them hunger to humble them that they might trust Him. Trust Him. Father, help us. Help us because we are so weak and so needy.
[51:33] Deliver us from the evil one and from His evil. Help us to sit under Your Word, not in judgment of it, but under it so that it might judge us and pierce our hearts and heal us and correct us and guide us.
[51:53] Deliver us, Lord. Have mercy. In Jesus' name. And diese as of見 liberty and the nature and the truth he chose to who to out Sylvain who was the Se ginger who were is His other case that I have