WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.559 Well, we are breaking from our study of 1st and 2 Samuel for the season of Lent, which just began. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:11.519 Lent's the season of the 40 days, heading toward Good Friday into Easter. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.960 It's just a season to remember Jesus' life, death, resurrection. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:17.760 Yet each Sunday is set aside for a particular topic. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.039 This Sunday, the first Sunday, is about temptation. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.600 So we're going to be looking at Matthew 4 and the temptation of Jesus. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:31.199 Now, I've been giving you puppy updates every week, but I want to tell you about my first dog. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:34.719 The first dog that we owned as our first child was Thomas. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:39.119 He was a big, lovable, beautiful, lovable golden retriever. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:40.960 And he was sweet and compliant. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:47.920 So about a year and a half into Thomas's life, we began to leave him out of the crate when we would go off on a date night. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:49.439 And so we started to do this. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:55.359 And he was always, when we come back in, asleep on the rug at the foot of the couch. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:02.079 Every time, come in, he'd hear the door, he'd open his eyes, he'd wake up and walk toward us for a snuggle. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:06.879 Now, this one particular Thursday night, we open the door, we walk in. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.280 There again, he's asleep at the foot of the couch because he's not allowed on the couch. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.159 And so he's asleep on the foot of the couch, like a good puppy dog. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:17.359 I walk over, he didn't wake up, and I'm like, oh wow, he's really asleep. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:19.040 This dog's really, really asleep. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:26.159 So I walk over and I sit on the couch, and when I sit down, I feel the cushions are warm. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:33.599 And that little booger had been snoozing on the couch. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.280 I mean, let's just think this through. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:36.560 He hears the car. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:41.599 He hears probably the car, because by the time we open the door, he's already on the floor. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:44.879 And then he fakes like he's asleep. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:46.480 Right? 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.719 Like the temptation of the couch was just too much over time. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.040 Alright, so this hit home from me last week, uh two weeks ago. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:02:01.680 We had some leftover nothing bunt cake, chocolate chocolate chip with cream cheese icing. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:03.200 It's unbelievable. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:04.000 It's so good. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.120 I might be driving straight there afterward, I'm not sure. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:12.240 We had some leftover from a birthday party, and then a retreat, and so, you know, I have some for breakfast. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.080 That's like a donut, that's no big deal. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:19.280 And then lunch, and then after two pieces, that's when you say, no, that's enough. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.800 Like that's enough for today. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:24.800 Two pieces of cake, that is already enough. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.680 And so after the lunch piece, you know, you're like, that's enough. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.400 Nope, you know, that we gotta draw a line somewhere. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:37.759 But then you get home from work and you're a little tired and you just need a little happy, you know, and and so you eat a third piece and a fourth, right? 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.319 Like the temptation, right? 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.000 I can make you happy. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.280 I can make you happy. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.639 It's what the couch was saying to Thomas, it's what the cake was saying to me. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.639 I can make you happy, I can do this for you. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:56.800 And when we get into this passage, because we all know temptation, whether it's cake or couch, or something much worse, and in this passage, the metaphor is a stone. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:59.039 You know, make the stone bread. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.159 I can make you happy. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:00.800 I can make you. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:05.759 Puritan pastor in the 1600s, John Owen, in the book Mortification of Sin. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.120 So 400 years ago, he says this about temptation. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:17.280 Temptation is the entangling of the affections with some object suited to corrupt them. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:17.919 Right? 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:23.280 Chocolate, chocolate chipcake with cream cheese icing is never going to be good for me. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:27.599 Four pieces in a day will definitely never be good for me. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:31.680 A stone, trying to eat a stone, will never be good for you. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:35.360 So it's a misalignment, a misdirecting of the affection. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:35.680 St. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.639 Augustine, 400 A.D., so 1600 years ago, he taught this. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.360 This is a paraphrase of his teaching about temptation. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:51.919 The soul commits adultery when it turns from God to seek what it thinks it loves outside of God. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:52.639 Right? 00:03:52.960 --> 00:04:00.080 It's misdirecting the affection from bread to stone, and then asking the stone to be something it could never be. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:12.800 So to summarize this, we could say it this way: temptation works by redirecting our loves from God to lesser things, fastening our disordered desires to what appears good, right? 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:21.600 We start to trick ourselves, believe that it is something it's not, until the heart's entangled, and then our will consents to sin. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.040 That's how it works. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:27.360 Let's listen how the devil, the liar, tries to tempt Jesus. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.199 Matthew 4, 1 and 2. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.879 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.279 And devil here, the word means liar. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.759 After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:44.240 The Spirit of God leads Jesus into the desert, hasn't eaten forty days, super hungry. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.800 The devil shows up, begins to tempt him. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:55.759 Verse 3, and the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:02.079 But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:07.040 So this passage is about the temptation to self-nourish. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.759 The temptation of self-nourishment. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:16.079 And the point is, point number one, our souls are created for wholeness and satisfaction in God alone. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:20.720 Self-nourishment is we say, oh, my soul can't be nourished just by God. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:26.720 I need to nourish my soul by going to lesser things. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.279 That's the burden of self-nourishment. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.399 I have to find a source of relief outside of God. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:46.399 I need to find that source and money or acceptance or lust, that other person, not my spouse, because things are getting hard and difficult, and we need to go to counseling and all that feels really hard, but this other person, that could be, I could nourish my soul there. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:48.560 And then what happens? 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.360 Well, eventually the stone's a stone, and all that's left over is destruction. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:03.600 The good news is in the grace of God, you're relieved of having to self-nourish, of trying to make stones bread. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.399 And that's why Jesus replies temptation. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:10.800 He says, I have a source of nourishment outside of this world. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:15.600 The more we tap into that, the more we can say no to temptation. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.560 Because we know there's a nourishment for the inside of ourselves that's not in the world. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.040 Verse 5. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:40.399 Then the devil took him to the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, 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 they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:45.120 Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put your Lord your God to the test. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:49.120 This part of the passage is about the temptation of self-importance. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:52.319 The temptation of self-importance. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:53.279 I need to be important. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:59.839 The point is that our souls are created for humility, not arrogance or deletism. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:09.040 In fact, the arrogant person is almost always the most insecure person, and the only person who doesn't know it is the arrogant person. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.800 Everybody around them is very clear on who's insecure. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.199 We just weren't created to be high on a pinnacle. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.920 Constantly having to make yourself seem more important. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.079 It's just quite exhausting. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:26.240 It's a horrible way to live. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.480 And we don't have to live that way. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:42.560 Because in the gospel, you are declared fully worthy, apart from your achievements, your resume, your record, which means that you are equipped with humility. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.720 You're equipped with the humility of the self, but also a security. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:55.120 So you can be humble and secure, which allows you to have this kind of self-assurance because in the gospel you already know you're somebody. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:57.839 It means you don't have to be the most important one in the room. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:04.639 It means that you can think about and love other people and help them become important. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.160 It's gospel humility. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:09.600 Verse 8. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:11.040 Third temptation. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:16.879 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:22.800 He said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:29.519 Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.759 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.320 So this part of the passage is about the temptation of self-determination or control. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.200 I need to control all the kingdoms. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.559 And point number three is that our souls are created to be the creation, not the creator. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:53.440 We were never created to have control over everything. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:56.559 Now, our family loves to watch American Idol. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.279 I love, I still love American Idol. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:02.639 I have loved it from Kelly Clarkson to today. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.399 I have always loved it. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:05.679 I think it's wonderful. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.840 The most likely moment of the week for me to cry is during American Idol. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.360 And when we watch American Idol, I like to hold the remote. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.759 Now, I don't have to hold the remote all the time. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:19.840 My girls are much faster at navigating and switching from Netflix over to Hulu and back. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:25.600 They're faster than I'm not very slow at that, but I have unbelievable fast forward instincts. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.879 Or at least I you know I think I have great fast-forward instincts. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:34.240 And you need to fast forward an American Idol because there's all this extra fluff and you just need to push through it and get to the good stuff. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:38.399 So while I have the remote, they are dying. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:39.360 Right? 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.120 While they have the remote, I am dying. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:43.679 Right? 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:45.519 Because we both want to be in control. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.799 Have you ever watched reels with somebody else and they are the one? 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:52.000 It's horrible. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:53.200 It's horrible. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:54.720 We all want control. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.159 We want temptation. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.879 That's the temptation of control. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.279 I need to have control of this. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.080 I need to have control of all these kingdoms. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.679 It's the burden to have everything planned, control. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.720 But see, as a child of the sovereign loving God, not just loving God, but sovereign. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:21.840 It means that you and I, we can live out in wisdom and also not be in control of every single thing. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:31.600 And what I hear, I'm not good at it, but I've read about it, is that this means you can release your concerns over to God and you can live in a non-anxious spirit. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.639 Again, I read about it once and got there. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:36.159 I'll let you know if I get there. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.919 Okay, two last points, point four and point five, about temptation. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:46.480 Point number four, we may be imperfect, but we are not helpless before temptation. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.960 Let's talk about the doctrine of the two atoms. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.879 So, two atoms doctrine begins back in Genesis 3. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:11:02.799 In Genesis 3, Adam was a man, but also he was a representative of us, or me and of you, and this is called federal headship. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:05.120 Theologically, it's what's called federal headship. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:06.879 That word federal means covenantal. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:13.200 So if we think about the federal government, the federal government is the covenantal role of representing us. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:15.039 Federal means covenantal. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.519 So Adam is our federal headship. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:23.759 He represents us, and when he disobeyed, we disobeyed, just because we would have made the same decision. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.559 So we have sin, condemnation, death, exile, separation from God. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.159 This is in Genesis 3. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:37.120 But also we get this promise of a serpent-crushing seed in Genesis 3.15. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:44.879 He shall bruise your head. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:48.399 It's speaking about Christ, and you shall bruise his heel. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:52.000 So the seed of the woman points forward to a coming deliverer. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.000 The heel wounds suggest suffering. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.360 The head crushed suggests a decisive victory. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.279 It's talking about Jesus. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:00.799 Romans 5. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.679 Paul begins to make sense of this federal headship. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:06.879 Adam, Jesus, representing us. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.320 Romans 5, 12. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:17.440 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, federal headship, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:22.720 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:31.679 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.799 All right, so we have representation in Adam. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:36.240 Where's our hope? 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:42.559 Well, we need a second Adam, Christ, also our federal headship, covenantal representation. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:48.000 But in Jesus we have representation for complete forgiveness, complete righteousness. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:53.039 Now listen for the two Adams, these two representatives that you have, beginning in verse 15. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.600 But the free gift is not like the trespass. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:04.960 For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounding for many. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.480 And the free gift is not like the results of that one man's sin. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:15.360 For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:29.360 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:42.320 So in Adam, one trespass, condemnation for all, yet the gospel in Jesus through the cross, one act of righteousness, justification for all believers. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.759 Paul summarizes it, 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:57.440 For as by a man came death, by a man has also come also the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:13:59.200 So how do we how do we live? 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.639 How do we walk as Christians? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.559 What's a paradoxical walk? 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:06.480 It's an understanding of an old Adam and a new Adam inside of me. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:11.279 I have my flesh and my spirit, and I need to admit that I need help. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:12.720 That's the paradox. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:18.080 That I have to admit that there's this tension in me, there's a war in me. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:20.240 There's an old Adam and a new Adam. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.559 There's a flesh and there's a spirit. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:28.799 And the way forward is to be asking the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, help me. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:33.120 Help me to align with that new Adam with Christ. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.480 Two questions for the heart. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:42.799 The first is, Abba Father, where do I have misdirected love in my heart and life? 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.039 Because that'll show you where temptation is, where sin is in your life, where possible destruction is. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.120 Where do I have misdirected love? 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.879 Second question, Abba Father, what is an influential lie? 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.039 What's a lie in my heart? 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:58.480 It doesn't need to be there. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:02.240 It just keeps influencing me. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:04.639 And then a prayer would begin. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.759 Heavenly Father, help me see a stone as a stone. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:11.919 Like, help me see that. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.320 Holy Spirit, I need your help. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:18.559 That I would see stones as stone and bread as bread. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.240 And then, Holy Spirit, give me the strength to live. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:25.600 That stones are stone and bread is bread. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.360 Point number five, last point. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:32.639 Temptation is always a conditional statement, but the gospel is a promise. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:37.039 Did you notice in our passage every temptation is a condition? 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:45.759 If you, if you, if you, Paul Walker, a priest in Christ Church, Charlottesville, he explains this passage this way when he preached through it. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:51.279 Who doesn't know the power of this devilish temptation? 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.039 What is it for you? 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:55.840 Money, sex, and power, the usual suspects. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:03.600 I'm not immune to that trying, but a few years ago I preached a sermon saying that if we just had crown molding in our living room, I would be happy. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.840 Fulfilled homeowner in person. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:06.879 Well, wouldn't you know it? 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:08.720 We put crown molding in the living room. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:10.799 And gosh darn it, it looks really good. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.600 And it made me happy for a month or two. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:20.159 Now, if we could just figure out a way to put in a master bathroom adjoining our bedroom, then I'd really be happy. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:26.080 Some of the more sering conditional sentences are if you were lovable, then you would be loved. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:29.120 Or if you had worth, then you would show your worth. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.559 If you were a better parent, your children would be happy and successful. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:36.240 The list goes on and on and on and on. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:42.639 If the sentence structure of Satan is conditional, then the grammar of God is declarative. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:48.240 Jesus responds to each of the devil's temptations with a declarative statement from Scripture. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:51.519 It is written, he says three times over. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:56.480 One doesn't live by bread alone, worship God only, don't put God to the test. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.080 To each of the devil's slippery slopes, Jesus answers back with a solid rock. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.279 Right? 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:07.599 Holy Spirit, help me see rocks as rocks, stones as stones. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:17.359 Now I don't know your mistakes, I don't know your temptations, I don't know where that failing has been small or big or huge destruction, but I know you need a power. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:22.559 I know you need a power of forgiveness outside of yourselves, as we only find in Jesus. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.000 Full forgiveness. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.359 I know you need a power outside of yourselves for righteousness. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:31.759 No matter how good you are, you're just always going to be falling a little bit short. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:37.920 And I know you need a power in the Christian life to say, help me. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.759 Help me see this rightly, help me make the right choice. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.920 And that is God's grace to you. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:49.039 Hear this psalm as a closing prayer, Psalm 133 through 7. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.839 If you, our Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:54.960 Right? 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:56.559 And say, none of us. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:58.000 None of us can stand. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:02.079 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.839 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:11.519 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.160 O Israel, hope in the Lord. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:20.559 For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him there is plentiful redemption. 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.000 If you have any questions about this sermon, I'd love to talk to you afterward. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:24.720 I'll be down front. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:27.039 Always welcome to pray with you as well. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:28.079 Let's pray together. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:35.680 Heavenly Father, so thankful for the gift of Jesus that finds us in our temptation, even finds us in our sin. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:47.279 And that you know us, every bit of us, every insecure thought, every sinful thought, every sinful action. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:49.839 And you love us. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:55.200 And that in Jesus there is more than enough grace for all of our sin. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.559 There's more than enough grace for all of our failings and our shortcomings. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:06.720 And in your Holy Spirit, would you help us to walk in the identity we have as your sons and your daughters? 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:08.160 Help us to see. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:12.720 Holy Spirit, help us to see stones as stones and bread as bread. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.240 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:15.039 Amen.