Staying Spiritually Alert: Finding Help In Temptation | Weekend Service | Josiah Smith

A message by Pastor Josiah Smith on Hebrews 2:14-18

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Transcript

Why We Resist Receiving Help

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Help is kind of a funny thing, is it not? We all need help in any number of ways. Some of us might need more help than others, but we all need help. We all need help. But many of us struggle to accept it. And I know there's some people in this room that love to give help, but when it's time for you to receive it, you run away. Help is is a funny thing. We often, again, have no problem giving help. But as soon as someone tries uh to offer it, we run. I don't know if that's a pride thing, perhaps. Perhaps we don't want to be seen as weak. I don't know. We wouldn't want other people to know that we don't have it all together, even though, of course, none of us have it all together. Um, I'm not, I'm not sure why. I've heard a lot, I don't want to be a bother. Uh, even though when people give help, they don't feel like they're a bother, but when they receive it, they do. Uh, there's all these kinds of excuses. We we we want to duck and we want to dodge, and and uh we feel awkward and we feel uh like we're a hindrance or a bother or a burden or whatever the case may be. Now in Hebrews chapter two, the author of Hebrews is going to tell us that Jesus is our helper. Of course, in a proper sense, theologically, the spirit is called the helper, but there's a kind of help that Jesus gives, according to Hebrews chapter two, the end of chapter two, verses 14 through 18, that you are going to want. And this is a help that you don't want to duck and dodge. This is a help that you are going to want to gratefully, thankfully, and excitedly accept from Jesus. And this is a help that is going to specifically target you when perhaps you are at your weakest, when perhaps you need the help the most. Hebrews 2, verse 18 says that Jesus is going to be able to help you in that time when you are tempted, when you are facing and battling the temptations of your flesh, or battling the sinful desires. Hebrews 2.18 says Jesus can help. Not only that he can, but that he will help. That's the kind of savior that he is, and he's going to provide a help again that you are going to want to run to, not run away from. So let's look at that help together

Hebrews 2 Introduces Jesus Our Helper

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today and see how we can be encouraged by this. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 14. Again, we'll read through the end of the chapter. It says in verse 14, since therefore, so I'm remembered this is this is all one kind of continuing thought and argument that began back in verse one. We are to pay much closer attention lest we drift away. That's the danger that's been placed on the table. That's the imperative. Pay attention, don't drift away. And so this is a continuation of that argument. Since therefore, the children, these are the children in verse 13, if you look in your Bible right above, behold, I in the children God has given me. So the children that have been given to Jesus. Since therefore, the children, that's you and I, if we are in Christ, since we share in flesh and blood, uh if you're in Christ, you are you're human, you're a person, you are created in God's image, you share in flesh and blood. He himself, that's Jesus, likewise partook of the same things. He became what you are, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, 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. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Now, one of the things I want you to notice immediately about this text is the repeated emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. Now, this is in contrast to chapter one. Chapter one focused primarily on the deity, the divinity of Jesus, beginning all the way back in the opening verses. He is the radiance of the glory of God, he is the exact imprint of his nature, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. He

The Humanity Of Jesus Matters

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is the eternal son of God. That was chapter one. Now, in chapter two, we are talking about the author of Hebrews, is talking about the humanity that the eternal Son of God took on flesh. Look at verse 14 with me again. Since therefore the children, again, those are followers of Christ, those are in union with Christ, since we share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. So this is a verse about the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, the eternal son of God that God spoke to and through, rather, in these last days, he has become a man. So we see that there in verse 14. We also see in verse 17, therefore he had to be made like his brothers, like the children that God gave him in every respect. So, what it means for you to be a human, it means for Jesus to be a human in every way, Hebrews says, except without sin. He was tempted like you are, he's he faced weakness like you, like you do, in every way. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, 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. But in verse 14, verse 15, uh, verse 17, even in verse 18, the humanity of Jesus is accented again and again and again. This is so important. This is so central. In fact, point number one, I want you to see Jesus' humanity as central to the help that he provides. That's what we're talking about. Help in temptation, verse 18. Because he himself has suffered temptation, he has endured temptation, he has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. But the argument and the logic is for that to be true, Jesus had to be a man. Jesus's humanity is central to the help that he provides, according to Hebrews chapter 2. One commentary I read this week said it this way Since the children God gave to Jesus share in flesh and blood. Jesus does the same. He is fully and truly human, plagued by the physical weaknesses and mortality that characterize human existence. Again, this is the argument of Hebrews 2, 14 through 18, that the humanity of Jesus, he partook of the same things. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect. He had to take on humanity for a very specific reason to provide the help that you need. So according to Hebrews 2, Jesus' incarnation, his humanity, his taking on of flesh was the necessary means by which Jesus, the eternal Son of God, became our all-sufficient redeemer and Lord. For you to receive help from the eternal Son of God in this gospel-centric way that Hebrews is telling, he needed to be a man. He had to take on flesh. It's been famously said, and I've quoted this before, that God could not redeem what he did not assume. That's talking about his humanity. Representation of humanity as the perfect sacrifice required identification with humanity. The eternal Son of God became a man to accomplish the will and plan of God as a man. For what purpose? In order to redeem mankind, in order to provide very specific help to those who would believe. So the humanity of Jesus is all over Hebrews chapter 2. And there's a balance here because we have the one person of the eternal Son of God that exists now eternally in two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. And Hebrews 2 is accenting the humanity of Christ, made like his brothers, partook of the same thing so that he could do something for us, so that he could provide a very specific kind of help. Now, again, the humanity of Jesus is just like any other human, it's truly human, fully human. He was born as a baby, just like any other baby is born. Minus the conception, of course. He was conceived through the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary. But Luke chapter 2, verse 16 says, And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. So the eternal Son of God took on flesh and was born as a baby. He was born as any other baby is born. He he grew, he grew in wisdom and stature, the scriptures say he became a teenager, which is kind of weird to think about that our savior, our king, was at one point a teenager, but he was a human, just like you and me. Luke chapter 2, 42 through 43. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. So he he continued to grow. He he grew up to be a teenager, he ultimately grew into an adult. Luke 3, 23 says, when Jesus began his ministry, he was 30 years old. So he was born as a baby, he developed just like you and I developed. He uh grew into a man, just like uh the young boys in this room or in children's ministry right now uh will grow into, Lord willing, one day. Men Jesus experienced full humanity. In fact, Jesus experienced emotions just like you and me. He experienced anger. Think of uh the classic example of that in the temple where he's flipping tables and he's angry. He can he experienced compassion. He looked on the crowd with compassion in his heart because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He experienced love, he experienced joy. Not only did he experience human emotion, he also grew tired and hungry, just like you and me. And that's why, by the way, when he's in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, that's one of the angles that Satan tries to take to tempt him with hunger and thirst, bread and water. He he was a real human that had real physiological needs, just like you and I do. He grew tired, he grew hungry, he needed to rest, he needed to sleep. Jesus, even in fact, according to Hebrews 2, was tempted just like you and me, yet without sin. That's even in verse 18. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. So, again, why? Why did the eternal Son of God take on flesh? And why is this the argument that we're seeing here in verses 14 through 18? Well, the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus shared in our humanity fully,

Defeating Death And The Devil

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everything that it means to be a man, to defeat the great enemies of humanity. Now, in this text specifically, the great enemies of humanity are death and the devil. Do you see that in the text in verse 14? He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. That is the devil, an enemy of humanity, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. So he delivers us from death, he defeats uh the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. And so another author that I read this week said, What Hebrews teaches here is that death is only undone through death. Death can only be undone in its effects, in all of its power, in the shower that or the shadow that it showers you with uh is undone only through someone dying. Now, of course, the Bible tells us that God, here's the fancy term for it, is incorporeal. He does not have a body, he is a spirit, he's not a physical being. And so the eternal son of God, of course, he can't suffer, he can't be harmed. Nothing can really and ultimately in any real sense stand against God and provide any sort of harm. So, how could someone that can't be harmed, that can't die, that is eternal, that has existed, does exist, and will continue to exist? He is from age to age. How does someone like that, that being, that God, die in order for you not to? By taking on flesh. The eternal Son of God takes on flesh. He says Hebrews teaches us here that death is only undone through death. Death dies only through the death of Jesus. Or more precisely, the one who has the power of death is dethroned through the death of Jesus. Then he quotes John Owen, a famous Puritan. John Owen says, All of Satan's power over death was founded on sin. The obligation of the sinner to death gave Satan his power. If this obligation was removed, Satan's power would also be taken away. So, in order for Jesus to help you, in a very specific way, in order for Jesus to help you be rid of the enemy of the devil, rid of his power over death and its effects, and the shadow that it casts over you that subjugates you to lifelong slavery, it says in verse 14, someone had to die. Jesus, the perfect son of God that took on flesh, had to die. What did he do to defeat death and the devil? Well, look again in verse 14. In verse 14, he says, the author of Hebrews, that it was through his death that he defeated death. Verse 14, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. That is the devil. So through Jesus willingly dying, offering his life as a ransom for many, through his death, he provides a way for you to not experience all of the effects of death, at least in its fullest sense, especially in eternity, not to die the second death, as the scriptures call it. But even in verse 17, it says, Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, fully 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. Now, the word propitiation, perhaps not as a familiar word, typically not something that we would often use, it can be translated in a variety of different ways. One way to understand a propitiation is sort of the appeasement or satisfaction of God's wrath. I think of what Paul talks about in Colossians 2, where he says that your record of wrong was canceled because it was nailed to the cross, because God's debt of your debt really, of sin that you owed to God, was paid. It was fully paid, it was paid in full. So propitiation is the sense of Jesus satisfying the debt that you deserved. According to Romans 6 23, the debt that you owed, or perhaps still owe, is death. The wages of sin is death, according to the Bible. But Jesus becomes the means by which your debt of death will no longer be paid by you. Because if you are in Christ, it is paid by your Savior, Jesus Christ, to make propitiation, to have a sense of satisfaction of God's wrath. So it means satisfaction. God's wrath is appeased, it's assuaded, it's it's been fully satisfied. But there's also within that forgiveness that you were given. Now, 1 John 1:9, if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That's what the scriptures say. So Jesus, he provides you help, he provides you help from death and the devil by dying the death that you deserve, the wages of sin is death, and becoming the propitiation, the satisfaction that God demanded for your sin. And yet, through your belief in Christ, you don't pay that debt anymore. It becomes nailed to the cross, your record of wrongs. And God cancels the debt, not because he sweeps it under the rug, but because his son fully paid for it. That's how Jesus does this forgiveness of sins and satisfaction of God's wrath. That's the very specific kind of salvific help that Jesus offers to those who would believe. Now, the next thing that we need to wrestle with is who experiences this help from Jesus? There's a very specific audience in mind here that the author of Hebrews has. Who experiences that kind of help? The help that rescues them from death and the devil, and ultimately really saves them and puts them on this trajectory of one day if they endure, they will reign fully with Christ. We looked at that at the last section of uh or two sections ago in Hebrews chapter two. So who experiences this help from Jesus? Well, look at verse 16. This is the answer that Hebrews gives us. For surely it is not angels that he helps.

Propitiation And The End Of Fear

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Now, when we first began this, we had a sermon where we talked a lot about angels. Some of you weren't here for that. That's okay. Um, but it was surely not to angels that he helps. So we talked about how people think wrongly about angels. And one of the things that people think about angels is that when people die, they become angels. They get halos and wings and harps and all kinds of fun stuff, and arrows, and they shoot people and they fall in love, and it's a great time. None of that is true. And one of the reasons why you don't want that to be true, one of the reasons why you don't want to die and become an angel is because God does not help angels in this specific way. You see that in the text? For surely it is not angels that he helps. So this is not something that you should desire. I want to float on clouds and I want to have a whatever. That's not what angels do, anyways, but you don't want to become an angel because it says that God does not help angels in this way. He does not provide this help. It is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. He helps a very specific people for a very specific reason. He provides help to them through the power of his life, the power of his resurrection. He defeats death through his death, and he conquers the devil who has the power of death, and he delivers you from all of that bondage and all of that slavery. Do you hear the Exodus imagery in there, by the way? He delivers you from slavery to these things. But it says, not to angels, and that's kind of a continuation of what he started earlier in chapter two. It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It's not angels that are gonna rule and reign with Christ. No, no, no. You, if you are in Christ, 1 Corinthians 6, you will sit in judgment over angels. So it's not to angels that God subjected the world to come, it is not angels that God sent his son to die on the cross for, it is to the offspring for the offspring of Abraham. Point number two, I want you to recognize this. Recognize Jesus gives help to particular people. And the particular people that the text tells us he helps are the offspring of Abraham. That's who Jesus helps in this way. That's who Jesus delivers from bondage to slavery, that's who Jesus defeats, the one who has the power of death. Now, the word help here in this context, it can be translated in a variety of different ways. But one simple, sort of vivid way to think about it is help is to take by the hand. And the analogy in my mind, I went immediately to Psalm 23. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil because Christ is with us. There's a sense in which he's not just beside us, but he's in front of us, he's pulling us along, he's he's taking us to our intended destination, which is what, according to Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So Jesus, for those who believe, for those who are the offspring of Abraham, he takes by the hand, leads them through the valley of the shadow of death, through the temptations that come with that, through the discouragement, through the hurt, and then the heartache and all of those things. And he says, Come with me, I'm gonna get you to the other side where you Will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's the help that Jesus provides. Again, who qualifies for this help? Well, the author of Hebrews has been telling us all throughout chapter two. In verse 10, it's those who are sons brought to glory. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory. So the those who are sons of glory who are being brought to glory, those are the people that receive help, according to Hebrews 2. Verse 11, it's those who are being sanctified. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified, those are the ones who receive help. Verses 11 and 12, the brothers of Jesus, he is not ashamed to call us brothers. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he's not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. So sons brought to glory, those who are sanctified, Jesus' brothers, the children that the Father gave to the Son, verse 13. Behold, I in the children God has given me. Verse 16, Abraham's offspring. So all throughout Hebrews 2, the author is telling us, these are the people that receive help from Jesus. These are the people that receive the help ultimately, ask ideologically, or future and this future salvation, this inheritance that's kept for you through the Son of God taking on flesh. The ones who receive that help are Abraham's offspring, the sons who brought to glory, those who are sanctified, Jesus' brothers, the children God gave, Abraham's offspring. So all the way back in verse nine, when it

Who Jesus Helps By Faith

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says that Jesus tasted death for everyone. By the way, tasted is not just kind of like an appetizer. It wasn't a nibble that he had. It was the full experience of death. He fully received death. But it says for everyone. So that the everyone in verse nine becomes filled out in ten and following. It's not everyone in the world universally. Of course, there are people that die and go to hell. There are people that die that do not believe. So it's not everyone, uh, everywhere all the time. It's those who are sons brought to glory, those who are sanctified, Jesus' brothers, the children God gave, Abraham's offspring, everyone without distinction is kind of what verse 9 is saying. And Jesus tasted death, he experienced death that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death through this incarnation, through his life, through his humanity. So it says the offspring of Abraham in verse 16. Now, what does that mean? Well, Paul says in Galatians 3, 7 through 9, here's how he answers that question. Know then it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. There's the answer. So who are the sons of Abraham? Those who have faith, or to put it in Hebrews 2 language, the sons of glory, those who are sanctified, all of those people that are just talked about in Hebrews chapter 2. Those who have faith are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, that's everyone that's not a Jew, the or a part of Israel, the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. Now, when did this happen? When was the gospel preached beforehand? Well, it's talking about the scriptures that were written. So God is saying these things, and uh Paul is kind of attributing this to a gospel proclamation that happened when in Genesis chapter 12. The Abrahamic covenant, Genesis 12, 15, 17, where God tells Abram, that eventually he calls his name Abraham, which means father of many nations. He says, In you shall all the nations be blessed. Those who have faith are the sons of Abraham. Verse 9 So those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. So in Hebrews 2, when it says that he helps the offspring of Abraham, the author of Hebrews is saying, Those who have faith are the ones that receive help. Those who believe are the ones who receive this kind of help. And let me just say this, Christian, what is more comforting than knowing that the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power has his sights set on helping you? What's more comforting than that? The one who is worthy of all honor and glory, the one who uh is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, he has his eyes set towards helping you. He has his targets set and aimed at helping you if you believe in him. What is more comforting than that? The illustration in my mind, perhaps because we're in Idaho and people love to hunt and all that stuff, is Jesus has his bow of help drawn and it's aimed at those who are the offspring of Abraham. That's what Hebrews 2 tells us. Those who walk in faith. There's few words that are more comforting in the right situation than I'm on my way. You ever been in a situation where you needed help? Perhaps you were in a car accident. This actually made me think of back in Ohio when McKinsey was about an hour away from me. She got into a car accident. She was rear-ended actually by a semi-truck. Uh, but they were at a stopwatch, they would, they weren't going like 80 miles an hour, but still. Um there, there was she called me and she said, I got into this accident. I'm I'm at this location. Uh, and I said, I'm on my way. If you're in the in the midst of needing help, I mean real help. Help where you're scared, help when you're not sure what's gonna happen, help that you you you feel just that that sense of desperation for. There are a few things more comforting than I'm on my way, I'll be there soon. Jesus says that he helps those who have faith. He helps the offspring of Abraham. Jesus provides the help that you need to ultimately conquer death, to defeat the devil, the one who has the power of death. Now, those things are sort of, they're both now, but in the future. We still experience the effects of death. We've talked about that. In some sense, we still live in the shadow of death. Our loved ones still die. There's there's a day in which you and I will die, it's appointed unto every man once to die, and after death comes judgment. And so let me just say, real briefly, that if you are someone that has not put your trust in Christ, if you're not an offspring of Abraham through faith, this help that we're talking about is not for you. And in that, in that analogy that we were just talking about, I'm on my way, Jesus is not on his way to help those who were not the offspring of Abraham. There is no help for those who reject the gospel. There is no help for those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that he lived a perfect life, that he died on the cross, that he paid for your sins. There is no help coming. But today that help is extended. Today that help is offered, and you can have and receive that help from death and from the devil if you simply believe. Now, for Christians, of course, you have received that help. You've been rescued ultimately from death and the devil. But there's another kind of help that Hebrews 2 is getting at in verse 18. This is the help that we often feel like we need on the day-to-day basis. The help when it feels like the walls of temptation are closing in, when it feels like that you can't do anything other than what your flesh desires to do. Jesus says, Hebrews says that Jesus is there to help. Look at verse 18 with me. It says, For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Because Jesus personally endured temptation, because he suffered when tempted. He was tells us, Christian, help is on the way. Help is provided through your savior when you are facing temptation. Point number three,

Help When You Are Tempted

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I want you to know that Jesus helps from personal endurance. Personal experience, yes, but not just experience, it's it's endurance. He endured suffering, he endured temptation, and he was like us in every respect, except without sin. He conquered temptation. He was never, he never succumbed to temptation. And because of that, Hebrews tells us that Jesus provides help. Now, what does it mean for us to be tempted? What does it mean to be tempted by something? Of course, we know sort of intuitively that to be tempted by something is we're we're drawn to it, we're enticed by it. And that comes from James chapter 1, 14 and 15. James tells us in verse 14 of chapter 1, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. I mean, that's what temptation is. Temptation comes when your desires get aimed and pulled in the wrong direction. And Hebrews 2 says that in those moments when you're facing temptation, when you're feeling lured and enticed, Jesus provides help. He gives you what you need. James 1 again, when he is allured, enticed by his own desire, then desire, what is conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. The wages of sin is death. And temptation comes when your desires get aimed in the wrong direction. So Hebrews 2 tells us, whether it's being spiritually focused, thinking back all the way to verses 1 through 4 of chapter 2, to pay much closer attention. We're aware of the dangers. We know what how quickly we can drift, we know how quickly we can forget. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, unless we drift away, or it's sinful desires and it's sinful appetites when you get carried along by the things of this world that your flesh is drawn to. Jesus provides what you need, he gives you a help. And I want to give you several practical ways from the scripture that Jesus does this. Of course, we have one here that we'll talk about more in depth in a minute. Verse 18, he has suffered when he was tempted. He is able to help those who are being tempted. But how does Jesus help you? Because I know, I know the experience of feeling like you're wrestling with temptation, and you feel like in that moment there's no option but to give in. I know that. I know that feeling. I know the wrestling, I know what it's like to give in to your flesh. But Hebrews 2 says you have someone that can help. And Jesus is able to help because he has himself been tempted and yet he never gave in. So how does he do that? How does Jesus provide help? Well, here's the first thing: he provides help through answering your prayers and giving you and resourcing you with everything that you need to conquer sin and temptation. Jesus helps through answering your prayers, which, by the way, that's one of the reasons why we want to start praying together as a church because we need help. You need help. We have a job, even as a church, to go and make disciples. That is impossible apart from the work of the spirit and the hearts of men. You can't do that on your own. I can't do that on my own, on my own. We need help. And so we go, we ask in the name of the Son, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So God, God helps you. Jesus helps you through answering your prayers. That's John 14. Jesus grants requests made in his name. He says, Come and ask. Ask because I will give. If you ask anything according to my will, I will do it, Jesus says. Do you believe that, Christian? Do you believe that when you ask for this kind of help, Jesus is going to answer and provide it? Because I'll tell you what, when you're in the midst of temptation and you give in, that's functionally you saying, I don't believe Jesus can help in that moment. I don't believe that if I ask, He will provide. But according to John 14, Jesus says, Ask in my name, and anything you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You need help. And Jesus provides it through answering your prayers. Paul says this in Philippians chapter 4. God supplies every need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Friend, do you believe that? Every need, God's going to supply that, give you that, grant that, provide that through your prayers. Because prayerlessness, again, is a testimony of unbelief. I don't believe that the Father will give me what I asked for in the Son if I don't pray and I don't ask. Right? Because if we really believe that God supplies every need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus, we'd be running every day, all every day, all the time. We need this help. And God says he's gonna give it, but we don't ask. That's what James said. You uh you have not because you ask not, and you ask wrongly to spend it or to to do in your own flesh with your own desires. No, no, no. Ask in the name of the Son, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Uh friends, let me tell you this. Asking God to deliver you from temptation is a prayer he's going to answer. We don't have to sit here and go, well, if it be your will, Lord. No, it is his will. This is the will of God for you, your sanctification, Paul says in Thessalonians. This is a prayer that God delights to answer. Ask. Ask in the name of the Son. Believers, in fact, we'll get to this in Hebrews chapter 4. Believers can approach God's throne of grace with confidence. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace in times of need. Because you're needy, and I'm needy. We need help. And Hebrews tells us, John tells us, Philippians tells us go to where you can find it. Ask in the name of the Son, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Jesus helps through answering your prayers. That's the first thing. Here's the second thing. Here's how Jesus helps. He helps through strength supplied. He gives you the strength.

Practical Ways Jesus Helps Daily

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This is Philippians 4 13. Christ divinely strengthens and enables to do what God has commanded. We know this verse, right? It's used and abused. It's everywhere in every sports arena in the world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But that is a promise for you, Christian. It may not be for the professional athlete, but it's certainly for you, Christian. That God will give you what you need to do what He has commanded. Christ divinely strengthens and enables. And in fact, the good news in that is that Paul says, When you are weak, Christ's power is made perfect. And so when you're at your weakest, you should be feeling in your heart by faith, I'm right where I need to be. His power is made perfect in our weakness, and I will boast all the more because of the grace of God. Jesus gives you the strength. This is why Paul, by the way, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, he says, Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus provides the strength that you need. When you're feeling that sense of temptation, remember Hebrews 2 18. He himself suffered when tempted. Therefore, he is able to help those who are being tempted. He gives you what you need, he supplies the strength. Here's the third thing. Jesus provides help through rest extended. The rest that he extends. This is Matthew 11. You've heard this. Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are burdened and weary, and I will give you rest. That's the invitation from Jesus. When you're burdened and weary because of the temptations again that surround you, go to Jesus and find rest. Find rest from your own flesh, find rest from just living in a fallen, corrupt world and have confidence because Jesus says, Take heart. I have overcome the world. Come to me, all who are burdened and weary, and I will give you rest, Jesus says that's how He helps. He is your hiding place in times of trouble. Here's the fourth thing. Here's the fourth way that Jesus helps through sympathy and temptation. Jesus helps through sympathy and temptation. Now, sympathy is a funny word because just like help that we often try to dodge, sympathy, don't give me your sympathy. You've heard that? You've said it, huh? I'm seeing your faces. Don't give me that. I don't want your sympathy. We feel indignant about that. But friends, trust me, sympathy from Jesus is something that you want, it's something that you need. He himself has suffered because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Jesus became like us in every respect, except without sin. We have a great high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, Hebrews says. And that's good news. He sympathizes with human weaknesses. He's been tempted in every way without sin. And he enables believers to approach God's throne for mercy and grace in time of need. He provides help because he understands. Because not just he understands, but he endured. Think about this because I know that there's some theological questions about Jesus' perfection, his impeccability. How could his temptation be real? Temptation is only as strong as the person who is being tempted. What I mean by that is temptation is only as strong as it takes for you to give into it, right? If I have to push open a door, the only exertion that I'm gonna enact on that door is just enough to get it open. That's temptation. Temptation for you might be smaller than someone else. But temptation really is only as strong as it takes to knock you down. And Jesus was fully, fully, fully, fully tempted and he never gave in. Do you understand what I'm saying? He pushed on the door, so to speak, or sin pushed on the door, and it never budged, it never moved because of the strength of Jesus. Right? So he he endured temptation and he has sympathy because of that. He endured the most temptation objectively than any person ever has ever endured, because you give in to temptation and he never did. He experienced the full weight of temptation and never gave in. The full exertion of temptation against Jesus was enacted, and yet he never gave in. And so it says in Hebrews 2, because he himself has suffered when tempted, he's able to help those who are being attempted. So Jesus helps through sympathy in temptation. Here's the next way that Jesus helps. He helps through protection and deliverance. I was thinking about what Paul says that no temptation has overtaken you, but such that is common to man. God is faithful and he will provide an escape. He will provide protection, he will provide deliverance. Paul says, He will provide an escape. The Lord guards those against, guards those who are of the offspring of Abraham, believers by faith, against the evil one. With the Lord as our helper, we have nothing to fear. That's Hebrews 13. The Lord hears the righteous cry for help. He delivers from trouble and is near to the brokenhearted. Jesus provides help by protecting you in the midst of temptation, delivering you. The Lord's prayer deliver us from evil, deliver us from temptation. That's what we are to pray, to ask in the name of the Son, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. The Bible tells us that Jesus will answer, that He will give you the help that you need. Two more, two more ways. Jesus provides help through spiritual nourishment. I'm thinking of John 15, where Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Jesus provides you help through spiritually nourishing you, through sustaining you. Jesus enables his branches to bear much fruit. And he says, Apart from me, you can do nothing. And that's the problem. We face temptation apart from Christ, not asking, not praying, not being dependent on him, not bringing our concerns to him, not asking in the name of the Son that the Father may be glorified, not believing, not trusting in faith. We need the spiritual nourishment, the spiritual maturity, the spiritual vitality of being connected to the vine. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Jesus provides the growth, the maturity, the health that you need to overcome the temptation that you faith face. And here's the last one. Jesus helps through intercession, through interceding for you. Jesus, in Hebrews, we'll talk more about this in his priestly role. He serves as advocate with the Father for those who sin. This is what John says, by the way, in 1 John chapter 2. If we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus intercedes for you. He intercedes for you as your great high priest. Even in Romans chapter 8, Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness by interceding with groanings too deep for words. You have a helper. Jesus is there to intercede for you. He wants to help you. He will help you, those who are the offspring of Abraham by faith. And all of this argument from verse 1 of chapter 2 to verse 18 of chapter 2 is all aimed at stay spiritually alert. Do not drift. Pay much closer attention to what you have heard. We saw even how to do that as we've unfolded chapter two. We do that by keeping the dangers of drifting front of mind. That was week one. Remember it? And here they are in some sort of disarray. By keeping the dangers of how quickly drifting can happen front of mind, by looking forward to the day when you will reign with Christ. That was week two. Be motivated by the future that you've been promised, that if you endure, you will reign, is what the scriptures say. That's what Hebrews 2 says. It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come. It was to you, Christian, offspring of Abraham. We stay spiritually alert by remembering why Jesus suffered for you. Verse 10, it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist and bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. We remember why Jesus suffered for us and we look to Jesus when we are inevitably tempted, tempted to look away, tempted to drift, tempted to give into temptation and our sin. And Hebrews 2 closes by saying, He will help. You are not given a command that you are not provided help to accomplish. Jesus is your helper. Jesus will provide that help that you

Stay Alert And Do Not Drift

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need, ultimately and finally by defeating death and the devil, and daily by sympathizing with your weakness and providing the help that you need to overcome it. Let's pray together. God, thank you for Hebrews chapter two. Thank you for the warning to pay much closer attention lest we drift away. God, I pray, even though we are in the early days of this church, God, please protect us from drifting, protect us from getting distracted, help us to stay focused, help us to believe, help us to have faith, to trust that Jesus does truly provide help. God, help us just to stay alert, to pay much closer attention. And God, I pray that our church, as a result of that vigilance, would be a beacon to this community and beyond. God, that you would increase and fortify our testimony through our ministry, that there would be many drawn to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that many would join our ranks as offspring of Abraham by faith, because of the gospel that's proclaimed, because of Christ that's exalted, because of your glory that we're seeking. Help us to do that, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.