Westtown Church
Westtown Church
The Protection of Living and Giving
A friend of ours lives in the mountains of Tennessee. One morning she walked out early into the dark onto her porch, only to realize there was a bear at the edge of her porch. She quickly proceeded back inside. But do you realize that there is a lion waiting for you each morning, afternoon, and evening, prowling around, ready to devour you and your family and your church? Jesus is teaching us here in this sixth petition of The Lord's Prayer to take Satan and the powers of demons and darkness in this world seriously. Oh, how we need God's spiritual protection in our temptations and from evil powers in this world if we are to continue Forward in Faith!
We're going to be in Matthew, chapter 6. God gave me a good one. He gave me a wife. That's wonderful. I praise him for that. He also gave me two wonderful grandmothers. It's a blessing, isn't it? His mother's a real life.
Speaker 1:Well, we've looked at our Lord's instruction over the last several weeks on the Lord's Prayer and we've seen so far, it's simply. It's not just simply how to pray. Jesus certainly is teaching us that, but he's also giving us, at the same time, a life transforming vision, and he's giving it to his disciples, his disciples who trust in him, his disciples who know God as their father through him, by faith. We know that because the prayer starts off our Father, and so he's teaching the children of God how to commune with God and the things to focus on in our prayers and therefore in our life. Jesus, in that sense, is really teaching us what it means to move forward in faith. That's one way that we can look at it as God's children. When we come to Christ by faith, he pours out the grace of His favor upon us. He gives us the forgiveness of sins, he declares us righteous. That's called justification. And then, once we have our Father's favor resting upon us, which remains on us throughout this life and for all eternity. But in this life, with God's favor upon us, which remains on us throughout this life and for all eternity, but in this life, with God's favor upon us, we as his children, then we need to daily seek the power of God's grace so that we can live a God-centered life, which is what a godly life is. The Bible calls that process, that Christian life, one of sanctification. And so God gives us the grace of his favor and justification, the grace of his power, where he sends the Holy Spirit to fill us and to live in us, to make us more like Christ sanctification. And one of the ways that he grows us is through prayer, through communion with God.
Speaker 1:We've seen, the first three petitions of the Lord's prayer are God-centered petitions God's name, god's kingdom, god's will. That's where we see our purpose for living, that's where we get our power for living and it's God's plan for living. But now, in the second part of the Lord's Prayer, jesus focuses more directly upon our needs. They all relate to God's glory and they're God-centered in one sense. But these are more directly our needs and of course he has us pray for our daily bread. That's God's provision for us. And he also has us pray daily for the forgiveness of our sins, not just when we come to faith in Christ at the beginning of the Christian life, that gets us legal forgiveness, but we also need to have relational forgiveness, keep the intimacy in our relationship with God as we go along in the Christian life. So in that petition the Lord teaches us about our pardon.
Speaker 1:This last and sixth petition of the Lord's prayer, he's really focusing upon protection. We need protection and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And so, with that brief introduction, I'm going to pray. Then I'm going to ask you to join me in praying. Heavenly Father, we come once again to your holy word. It never comes back, void Lord, I pray that your sword of the Spirit would do its surgical work in our hearts this morning, and I pray that by the Holy Spirit you would open our eyes to see the glory of Jesus Christ Even as we pray, the words our Lord and Savior taught us Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have, forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.
Speaker 1:Well, the sixth petition reminds us that there are enemies to our souls, and there's three great enemies to the eternal souls of every man, woman, child and youth. And the Bible makes clear the devil, the world and the flesh. And by the flesh I don't mean just our physical body per se, I mean our sinful nature. That's what Paul often means by flesh. And so Satan, the world and the flesh. And Paul, when you get to the end of the book of Ephesians, his letter to the Ephesians, he writes there and makes clear that the Christian life is one of spiritual warfare. So we're in a war. Whether we like it or not, everyone is in a spiritual war.
Speaker 1:The main idea I want to get at this morning is that we live in a fallen world where the powers of darkness lurk and there are destructive demonic influences that prowl. And we need our heavenly father's sovereign and gracious protection from temptations that would overpower us, and we also need him to give us grace for deliverance when we're in the midst of evil circumstances. And so, with that before us, there's really two things I want to say. Everything else I'm going to say is going to hang on these two points. The first one is we're going to look at the hard reality, and the second part is that we're going to look at the persevering grace. The hard reality is our battle. The persevering grace is God's victory in our battle. Praise the Lord for that. So let's look at first the hard reality. I remember Jim Collins saying in one of his books I think it was good to great the difference between a good company and a great company the great companies always look at the hard facts, they look at reality, they face reality. And so that's what I want us to look at is the hard reality. It's a difficult subject, but we need to face it. And so, when Jesus is praying and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, what he's teaching us here in part is to realize our human weakness and the spiritual danger that we're in, so that we'll seek God's protecting grace and spiritual war. We need to first understand our human weakness and the spiritual danger that we're in.
Speaker 1:In the 1950s, 60s and even into the 70s, it was not uncommon to see Americans sit on their porches and children would have their dolls or their trucks out there tooling around, you know, on the porch and whatnot, and you can sort of envision in your mind maybe the parents are enjoying a glass of tea and talk to the neighbors and whatever, and the kids are playing there. And as the kids play, I mean it's a nice sunny day, nice cool breeze, just beautiful. All seems well. Or is it well? Because some of you may remember that kids would sometimes take the paint that was around the porch area there and when it would flake off, they'd take it and they'd stick it in their mouth. Or maybe even inside the house, there along the baseboards, they would flake off and they'd stick it in their mouth. Or maybe even inside the house, there along the baseboards, they would flake off and they'd put it in their mouth. What we learned the hard way is that the lead that was in those paints was causing these little ones irreversible brain damage and other problems. So we need to be aware of danger and I also, when I was thinking about this sermon, thought about one of my seminary instructors.
Speaker 1:He came into class with his hand all swelled up one day. He was cleaning out this big old pile of bricks. He said it had been there over 30 years and was on his property. And finally one day he got the motivation. And this is in Jackson, mississippi, brick by brick. He was going through it and he was throwing out some old junky ones and keeping some of them and put those in a nice pile and whatever. And this, this pile was huge and he just was working away. And then he went into reach and get the next brick and all of a sudden, pow, a poisonous snake nailed him right on the hand. I do remember he caught that snake in a bucket, took it to the ER and they said, oh, we don't need that anymore, and that always cracked me up. But that poisonous snake that explained why he came into class. When he was all swollen up and bandaged up and so forth, he had to go to the ER and all that. But what's the point? Danger was right there but he was not aware of it.
Speaker 1:And the same is true in the spiritual realm. Are you and I aware, really truly aware, of the spiritual danger that's all around us All the time, even on the sunny days when things look good? We're enjoying that glass of tea on the porch. We're just trying to get a simple little, ordinary old chore done. Danger is around, and so Jesus says make sure you pray for this and lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil, or you could say, from the evil one. Evil's personal. It's not just a concept, it's personal. There's a leader of evil called Satan or the devil. And so Jesus teaches us lead me not into temptation, father.
Speaker 1:Now we want to make a distinction here. God, he sovereignly, appoints trials in our life and he does that so that we'll grow in holiness. Satan, on the other hand, he comes with temptations in our life, trying to lure us into sin, to destroy us. God, our Father, when he brings trials into our life, they may be hard, they may be extremely difficult, they may be overwhelming, but his motive is always good and loving, because that's the very character of God. We hear it in Romans 8, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those called according to his purpose. Now, sometimes we just can't quite piece together how any good could come out of particular circumstances and we remain puzzled and baffled. And it can be very confusing, and sometimes in this life we never do fully get to the bottom of it, other than we just lean into the fact. We know God is good and loving and he knows when we get to glory we'll see and we'll praise him for his infinite wisdom.
Speaker 1:God's ultimate purpose in our life is what the very next verse tells us, verse 29, romans 8, to be conformed to the image of God's son, Jesus Christ. We know there's many purposes God's working at, but that's the one overriding purpose God has for his children. He's shaping us with everything he brings into our life. He's shaping us to be more like Christ. He's preparing us for glory. We serve a suffering Savior, and so God also uses suffering in the life of His children to make us more like our suffering Savior, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:The devil, on the other hand, he brings temptations, and these temptations are different than what we might call trials, and his motives are always bad, because he does what he can to lure us into sin. And it's these evil temptations of Satan that Jesus is praying. He's teaching us to pray about here in the sixth petition Lead us, not into temptation, god, guard and protect me. I know me. Guard and protect me from being in those situations where the devil just run right over me. I know me, guard and protect me from being in those situations where the devil just run right over me. So there's a certain humility. We need to pray this prayer sincerely.
Speaker 1:Thomas Manton the old Puritan says the great business of Satan is to draw us into sin. Now, why does Satan want to do that? Well, if he can destroy us, he would. But even if he can't ultimately destroy us, he wants to damage us and damage those we love and other people along with it. We see this right from the beginning. The Garden of Eden, everything is just so wonderful, and then here comes the devil to spoil all that which is good. Adam and Eve were lured into sin.
Speaker 1:Jesus, in John, chapter 8, the 44th verse, he says that the devil is a liar and he's the father of lies. In that same verse, he also says he's a murderer. So what does the devil do? He uses lies and deception to lure us into sin. And what's the wages of sin? Death. So truth matters. Truth matters. We need God's truth to protect us from death. And so the devil is trying to confuse us and pound us with lies and deception and lure us and deceive. We need to remember he's trying to get us into something that kills. Sin is a killer. It is a killer. It's a killer of friendships and it's a killer of marriages and families. Sin is a killer of joy. It's a killer of relationships of every kind friendships even. It's a killer of our of every kind friendships even. It's a killer of our created bodies, that God created good bodies, but we die. Sin is a killer even of eternal souls. The biggest thing sin does is it damages our relationship with God and it even has the potential to destroy it.
Speaker 1:The apostle Peter says in 1 Timothy 5, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. The devil wants to devour you. He wants to eat you for lunch. I know in our society, sometimes on SNL, you know they like to have the little guy with his red leotards and the cute little pointer. You know. But the reality is, it's not funny. The people that absorbed the Holocaust, it wasn't cute and funny. Those who were being sexually abused? It's not funny. And I could go on and list a thousand different things. It's just not funny. And I could go on and list a thousand different things. It's just not funny.
Speaker 1:The reality of hell and Satan is a serious thing and we need to remember to take it serious. Peter knows who told us there that he prowls around like a roaring lion. He should know, because Jesus told Peter himself, the lead apostle, that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat. Do you remember that Satan did sift Judas like wheat, but not Peter? What's the difference? Jesus wouldn't allow Satan to sift Peter like wheat. That's the sovereign saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the apostle Paul.
Speaker 1:He says in 2 Corinthians 11, that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Sometimes the devil comes to us in kindness. That's kind of scary, isn't? It Says his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. His servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. We shouldn't be surprised when we hear of things happening in churches. Do you think Satan's going to see it's a church and be like I might as well bypass that? No, he's going to do his thing. There's spiritual danger all around. We have to be aware of it. We have to take it serious. As Christians, it's very easy for all of us to let our guards down.
Speaker 1:1 John 3, 8,. The apostle John makes clear whoever makes a practice of sinning now that word practice is important there, he's talking about people that this is just the way they live. They practice sinning, they go with the flow of sinning. They're not striving for holiness, they don't repent of their sin. This is just how they live. Whoever makes a practice of sinning so he's talking about unbelievers is of the devil. He says Let that sink in. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. And the Bible says anything not done in faith is sin. There are some very kind unbelievers Thank God for that but there are many kind people that are entrapped and in bondage to the devil. That's a scary thing to think about. 2 Corinthians 4.4,.
Speaker 1:The apostle Paul says the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Unbelievers don't want to see the glory of Christ, they willingly don't want to see it. And Satan's help? He's happy to help keep them in darkness and keep them in that blindness. And that's Satan's business to keep people who actually have eyes blind and to keep people who actually have ears deaf to the things of Christ, to heavenly and spiritual things, to the things related to the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:And so Satan assaults people directly, but he also uses other people, and this is frightening as well. At times he even uses God's people in his deception and in his murderous work. That's why Jesus said to the apostle Peter in Matthew 16, get behind me, satan, ouch, can you imagine Jesus turning to you and saying get behind me, satan. That was the lead apostle. If Satan could influence the lead apostle in that moment, do you think he could influence us? Peter was thinking in worldly ways, according to the things of natural man. He was not thinking in spiritual ways, according to the holy and heavenly things of God and the things of the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:But Satan and his unbelieving servants some who even appears angels of light and servants of righteousness, as the Bible says, they're always about the business of trying to squeeze us and conform us and shape us into the ways of the world's rebellious thinking rather than into the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul means in Romans 12 when he talks about do not be conformed to this world. Jb Phillips his dynamic translation. It's something to the effect of don't allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, because that's what it's trying to do. And by the world I don't mean this earthly world, I mean the rebellious spirit amongst sinful people against God in this world. That's what John means by the world and often what the Bible means when it says the world.
Speaker 1:And there's bad examples all around. See, one of the ways they do it is through bad examples. Why is there so much cussing? Can you even watch a movie today without the F-bomb counter? Why do they do that? They're trying to get you to think, oh, it's no big deal, but it is a big deal. It's a big deal to God. Do you think there's one swear word in heaven right now? It is a big deal to God. That's not who he wants us to be. And there's bad examples in personal relationships, sometimes various leaders you know, in nations or cities or even in churches. At times, teachers can be bad influences. Kids go off to universities and sometimes they get under the influence of a bad instructor, a worldly instructor. There's a flood of worldliness coming through the media today, isn't there?
Speaker 1:Parents, be careful what your kids have. The devil used to have to go through the father years ago to get to their kids, not anymore. Be careful what your kids. I'm not saying you got to become Amish. I'm saying Satan will use this to destroy your children. The sewage on here, the pornography that will flow across this unless you block that stuff. Be very careful. And that's just one example.
Speaker 1:The pornography is not even the worst of it. It's the attitudes how they shape your kids to have certain attitudes towards things. How they shape your kids to have certain attitudes towards things. Phones, tv, music, media all wonderful gifts, but Satan will use good things to destroy souls. Be careful. We need wisdom from God and they'll always present it. He always wants to present things to us, and especially to our children and youth, that all of this is cool and it's trendy, and this is what it means to be up to date and where it's at. And the best life, the good life, all these different things, all the glitters it's all a lie. Every bit of it's a lie. Usually, though, satan takes some truth and he twists it. Takes some truth and twists it, so it's. It's not that sex is good within marriage. Casual sex is fine, cussing's fine. Drugs and alcohol abuse are fine. Materialism gotta get to the top power plays. Drugs and alcohol abuse are fine. Materialism Got to get to the top Power plays. I'm going to climb over people to get what I want. Hey, it's just the way the world is Revenge.
Speaker 1:How many movies have you found yourself cheering for the guy going out to get revenge? Has that ever like just shot through your mind and soul that all of a sudden, oh my gosh, I was actually cheering for the dude to go in there and blow up the place. Have you ever noticed this? And we think, oh, it's no big deal. But after you see a hundred of those movies, what do you think the effect begins to be? I'm not saying don't watch movies. I'm saying be careful, think when you're watching. And then some stuff, just don't watch movies. I'm saying be careful, think when you're watching. And then some stuff, just don't watch. Our culture wants you to do, say something cute, to jab somebody else, and then do the mic drop. Right, that's real popular. I don't think Jesus ever one time did a mic drop.
Speaker 1:Gossip and slander, violence, tough guy attitude, all the various things, and I could just rattle on right. What's my point? There is spiritual danger all around us. And it's much more dangerous because it's little by little. Sometimes things are obvious. But what about a hundred little bites? A hundred little bits, and every day and every day and every week, be alert to it. What am I saying. There's spiritual lead paint everywhere, things that look very ordinary. There's spiritual poison close by. We have to know this. This is the world we live in. It's a hard thing to think about, but it's the way it is. And what makes this so dangerous is not just Satan in the world, it's not just without there. What makes it so dangerous is what's in here, because we have sinfulness in our hearts and we can be lured into sin. We can be drawn into sin, and this danger lurks in the hearts of the most godly of saints.
Speaker 1:Paul says a Christian in Colossians 1 is this. It's one who's been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. A Christian's one who's been taken from one kingdom, a kingdom of darkness, and transferred to the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of light. That's what a Christian is. There's something radical that's going on. You're out of one kingdom where you're ruled by darkness and Satan, and you're brought in to Christ's kingdom where you're ruled in reign. You're ruled by Christ. Now, satan and the world and sin are no longer your master. Christ is. That's what Paul is saying there. Galatians 1.4 puts it like this, that a Christian is one who has been delivered from what? From this present evil age. That's what a Christian is. We've been delivered out of this present evil age. We're in the world, but not of it any longer.
Speaker 1:You see, even the most godly prophets and apostles, god. One of the ways he prepared them for service was he showed them the hard reality of how deep their sin was, so that they could experience his grace in a profound way, so that they can then be strengthened for ministry, knowing who it is that they serve. Isaiah is a good example. God was preparing him to go preach to a people where 90% of the people would reject what he's saying. That's what Isaiah 6 is all about. And God, how does he prepare Isaiah? He shows him his holiness, the holiness of King Jesus on that throne in heaven, and Isaiah becomes undone. He says I'm a man of unclean lips and I live amongst a people of unclean lips. Woe is me, for I am ruined, for my eyes have seen the king. John 12, 41, 42 or so right in there, tells us Isaiah saw Jesus on that throne and he became undone. But it wasn't to destroy Isaiah, it was to help him, same with the apostle Paul Remember, he was the great persecutor of the church and we know Paul's writing about the gospel that saved him through Christ.
Speaker 1:And he speaks about the forgiveness of all of his sins in Romans 3, 4, and 5. And then he writes in Romans 6 about being united to Christ, that he's no longer under the master of sin but united to Jesus. Jesus is now his master. And then he gets to Romans 7, and what does this same godly apostle say? Oh wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death? This godly apostle Paul, sick of the sin in himself? Then he answers his own question. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thank God for that. Paul came to see that, though sin no longer dominated and ruled its life, it still dwelled in him and it was still a serious problem. He goes on to write I do the very things I hate, for. I have the desire to do what's right, but not the ability to carry it out. There's Romans 7 again. Isn't that every Christian? I have the desire to live this way, lord, and yes, I see some victories in my life, but then here I am again. That was Paul Thomas Manton.
Speaker 1:You go up to every gas station now. What do you see? The little sticker there on the pump. What do you see? What sticker do you see? There's not as many smokers as there used to be, but it still says no smoking. Why is that? Well, you just don't want those gas fumes and that cigarette coming together to kiss. You're going to have a problem.
Speaker 1:And Thomas Mann in the old Puritan says our hearts are like that, they're combustible. The things can look ordinary and then we can get into a situation where they can be inflamed into sin. And we have to know that about ourself. I'm sure when David woke up on the day that he went and had adultery with Bathsheba, he wasn't thinking oh, I'm going to get up and sin big today. But what happened? He found himself in a situation and, boom, it just rolled him right over and we get most of our Psalms from King David. He was a godly man. So if that's true of David and Isaiah and the apostle Paul, what about you and me? We have to know this about ourselves. This is why we need the church, by the way. We need Christ, but we need one another. We need help in our Christian walk. We need brothers and sisters to walk with us.
Speaker 1:We live in a world of danger and you got Satan assaulting and scheming in his deceptive ways against us, trying to lure us into sin. Then you got the world squeezing and pressing us in its ways and then we have our own sinful flesh dragging us down and pulling within. How now shall we live? Well, we have to face that hard reality. But the good news is, god has preserving grace. Aren't you glad? The hard reality is our battle. The preserving grace of God is where our victory is to be found. The victory is not gonna be established by us, it's gonna be established by God in our life.
Speaker 1:So what is Jesus telling us? To pray here. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What is he doing? He's teaching us to seek the strength, wisdom and grace of God so that we'll do what, that we'll stand firm, that we'll stand firm with confidence and hope in spiritual war. So he teaches us lead us not into temptation, where we can be lured into sin. But then he also teaches us but deliver us from evil, or the evil one. We pray. Yes, god, give us strength and wisdom.
Speaker 1:Remember Joseph? He found himself with Potiphar's wife, who tried to seduce him and Joseph quickly fled. God gave Joseph wisdom in that moment. We need that kind of wisdom. He got out of the situation and fast King David, as godly as he was and there were many times David did remarkable things, the restraint he showed King Saul, for example, who wanted to kill him. There's many godly examples in David's life, but there was that time he failed, when he was tempted strongly, when he laid his eyes upon the beautiful Bathsheba.
Speaker 1:We need strength and wisdom from God and we have to first acknowledge that we need his saving love in our life, his saving grace and power in our life, something we do not have within us. Jesus says I'm the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing. The branches have to get their strength from the vine, which means we have to be united to the vine. How do we get united to Jesus Christ, the vine? By faith alone. That's how we get united to Christ. That's how we get united to Christ. We receive him by faith.
Speaker 1:A student has to first be ready to learn and receive before the teacher can be effective. And so our Lord's brother James, he says this listen, chapter four. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You gotta hear the order. He doesn't say resist the devil and he will flee from you. You gotta hear the order. He doesn't say resist the devil and then submit yourselves to God. No, submit yourselves, therefore, to God. That's first Now. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Speaker 1:Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded. How do you cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts? You double-minded. How do you cleanse your hands? You come to Christ by faith and you turn away from sin in your life. And he says purify your hearts, you double-minded. What does he mean? He goes. You're not going to resist the devil if you got one foot in the kingdom and one foot out. You're not ready for battle. That's like fighting on one leg. No, don't be double-minded. Have a resolve in your heart and mind. I'm going to resist the devil as a way of life. That's part of what it means to be a Christian. I'm not going to swallow what the world tells me. I'm not going to let the world shape what I should think and live and what I should do and value. I'm gonna be shaped by the word of God. This is what's gonna conform me as Christ, through his word and by his spirit. Now, of course, you resist the devil as a way of life. You pray when you can. You flee. You can't always, but you try if you're able.
Speaker 1:When you're in the midst of temptation, remember who your authority is. It's God. Remember who you're serving. That's why you have to be resolved that you're submitted to God, because if you get yourself in temptation and that's not resolved in your heart, you're a goner. We're not strong enough without a relationship with God. But that's not all there is to say about this, because there's only one who ever lived, who never, not one time ever, gave into temptation, and his name is Jesus Christ. And this is very important for us to grab hold of.
Speaker 1:Do you remember in Matthew, chapter 4, at the beginning of that gospel, jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights. And when he's at his weakest, the devil shows up, when he's most vulnerable, in the fullness of his humanity. Jesus defeated the lies of the devil. And do you remember how he did it? One of the key ways he did it is he knew scripture and he quoted God's word right back to him, christ spoke right back to the devil.
Speaker 1:And so where the first Adam failed in his time of temptation in the garden, christ the second Adam. He overcame. And it's the same with Israel. Israel too failed in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus Christ overcame in his time of temptation in the wilderness. And wherever and whenever God's people have failed in their temptations, it's Christ who has overcome and won the victory for us in our place. Not only in the wilderness, but Christ won the victory throughout his sinless life and ultimately upon that cross, where he absorbed the judgment of God and died for our sins, for all those sins, when we were tempted by Satan and squeezed by the world and lured by our own sinful desires, and we failed. Aren't you glad for Christ? Where we have failed, where Adam failed, where Israel failed, where we failed in our temptations, christ overcame and won our victory in our place.
Speaker 1:And so an important part of standing firm in the faith it's not only put on what Paul calls the full armor of God, that's faith, the gospel, the word of God, prayer, all these things. They're all very important. But an important part of standing firm in the faith is that after you fall, don't lie there, don't lie in the mud, don't lie in the muck, but seek God's grace to do what? Stand you back up, spiritually speaking, and get back in the game and press on toward the upward call in Jesus Christ, our Lord. There's grace and forgiveness to be found in Christ when you fail within the Christian life as well, and I wanna say to you this morning I wonder if you know how compassionate Jesus Christ, our Savior, really is.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we get distorted ideas of God. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, the Father, as our advocate. Hebrews 4,. Listen, for we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who, in every respect, has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace and help to help in time of need. Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses, that we can receive mercy and find grace in time of need. We need God's mercy and grace to be obedient, amen. But we need God's grace and mercy to be forgiven and pulled out of the miry muck.
Speaker 1:Listen, dear Christian, the apostle Peter. He may have had many sinful failures. He had his betrayals of Christ. He was rebuked more than once by the Lord Jesus Christ, which you can read about in the gospel. He was rebuked by the apostle Peter in Galatians, chapter two, and is rebuked publicly in front of others. Peter had many of his sinful failures, but listen to what Jesus says to Peter. Simon, simon, behold, satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. That's the difference between Judas and Peter. Peter was protected by the sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:And then listen to what Jesus says and when you've turned again, strengthen your brothers. You see, god oftentimes lets us fail that we can experience his grace and mercy and comfort, so that we can then go and strengthen our brother, who's in the same spot that we were in in our brother, who's in the same spot that we were in. Jesus is not only the author of our faith, but he's the perfecter of our faith. He's not the author and we're the perfecter. He's the author and the perfecter of our faith. He's the one that, by his spirit, keeps us for heaven.
Speaker 1:And listen, if you've come into this house today and you're beat down by your sin and temptation, you know you've given into it and you're ashamed of it and your conscience is guilty. Listen to Psalm 50, verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me, says the Lord Christian. Remember, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And he who is in you is also greater than all of your sin. There's infinitely more mercy in Christ than there is sin in you. And the devil shows up and the world comes in and the devil's wanting to remind you of all of your sin. He's trying to convince you. God couldn't possibly love somebody like you.
Speaker 1:And well, the same apostle, paul, who wrote Romans 7, oh, what a wretched man I am goes to Romans 8, and here's what he writes If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, with him, graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn Christ? Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God, who is indeed, is interceding for us. Christ is interceding for you, dear Christian, just like he was for Peter, so that your faith and my faith may not fail. And if Christ prays for us and our faith, what are the chances that that's going to fail in the end? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 1:Christian, if you've fallen into sin, don't lie there, don't be like, the scripture says, a dog returning to its vomit or a pig going back to wallow in its mud. There is forgiveness and grace and mercy to be had this morning, right now, in Jesus Christ. He's an ocean of grace and mercy and forgiveness. And yes, it's always pleasing to God, our Father and our Savior, when we obey him. It's always pleasing when we win the battle in temptations.
Speaker 1:But Dane Orland points out and talks about the wonderful Puritan pastor, thomas Goodwin in his beautiful little book the Heart of Christ. What a great title. The Heart of Christ. In extended exposition on Hebrews 4.15, listen, he shows Thomas Goodwin.
Speaker 1:There's two things in particular that stirs Christ's compassion for his people our afflictions and our sins. Oh yeah, we'll agree with our afflictions, but I hope you understand this morning that Jesus Christ is stirred with great compassion when he looks upon us in our sins. Do you know that about him? Think of the doctor who gets joy when his patients get healed. Think of the husband, the loving husband, who gets more relief and comfort in his wife's healing than in his own. Goodwin says Christ brings into himself more comfort than it procures to us when he sees our sins being placed under his own blood. This is our savior, this is our deliverer, this is who he is. Goodwin says Christ's own joy, comfort, happiness and glory are increased and enlarged by his showing grace and mercy in pardoning, relieving and comforting his people here on earth. What am I saying? You see what Goodwin's getting at is.
Speaker 1:Don't just look at Jesus and see that he died for you to atone for your sin, to make some legal exchange. Look at his beautiful heart of compassion for you and realize. Realize how he loves you and has compassion on you when you fail and sin in your temptation. It stirs his compassion when he sees you fall down in sin. This is the heart of God. People aren't like that. They'll laugh at you, but not God, not Christ. We stand firm in Christ not only by resisting the devils and resisting the ways of this world and doing battle, trying to kill and mortify the sin within us by the means of God's grace, yes, amen. But we stand firm in Christ by coming to him with a broken heart when we fail in our temptations. It's just important, if you're going to stand firm, to not just do the fighting, but when you fail to come to Christ and realize that he's the one who's won the victory. Christ is pleased not just when we obey him, but when we come to him with our sin. Come to him.
Speaker 1:I want to end this morning with a quote from Martin Luther. I told the first service when I get to heaven and I hope you understand when I say this I want to have a beer with Martin Luther. I understand when I say this I want to have a beer with Martin Luther. So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this I admit that I deserve death and hell. One of it, for I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ. Son of it, for I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, son of God, and where he is there, I shall be. Also Put that in your pipe, satan, and smoke it. How about that?