WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 So Luke 18, verse 9, Luke sets it up for us, this passage, this parable Jesus is going to teach. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.880 And Luke sets it up by saying, I know you'll want to trust in yourself. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.400 He says, You'll want to be impressed with yourself. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:15.279 You will. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.679 You're going to be doing some good things in your life, and it'll be easy. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:24.320 You got your life together, some parts of your life, you managed to get them together. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:25.359 You grew up a little bit. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:31.280 You got yourself in church, and it'll be easy because you gave a lamp to goodwill and you felt really good about that. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:34.640 And it'll be it'll be easy to feel good about yourself. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:36.479 It'll be easy. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:40.240 It'll be easy that you'll want to trust in yourself. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.079 You'll want to focus on your own righteousness. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.479 You'll want to count it. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:48.399 You'll want to measure it. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:52.799 You'll want to feel bad because of it, or you'll want to feel really good because of it. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.479 You'll want to compare it. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:57.840 It'll be easy to do that. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.000 But it's just a costume. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.280 It's not your soul. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.599 It's not your true self. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:06.719 I do it. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.560 I'll drive down the highway. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.719 I'll see a pastor with his face plastered up on a billboard. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:14.959 Maybe his wife's with him, maybe not. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.000 And I'll think to myself, I would never do something like that. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.359 I'll never put my face on a billboard. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:28.560 In fact, I'll never even put my name on the sign, on the church sign out front. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.200 I would never, I would never do that. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:34.719 And you see how quick it happens, right? 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:37.200 It'll be easy. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:42.000 All of a sudden, I'm proud of my humility. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:44.959 It doesn't take long. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:48.239 It's easy to trust in your own good. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.760 That I am righteous and they are not. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:54.879 It happens so quickly. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.200 Inevitably, contempt follows. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.959 I'm better than that pastor with his face plastered up on the billboard. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:04.959 Or I'm better for who against whoever it is that I'm comparing myself. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:06.560 I'm nothing like them. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:09.439 Because why don't they get their act together? 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.439 Why don't they just make better decisions? 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.840 And the entire time you're the same. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:20.319 So Jesus tells this story. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.080 Two men come to the temple to pray. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.800 First, a religious guy who, he's a good guy. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.199 He's really a good guy. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.000 He's faithful. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:31.840 He's a good citizen. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.039 He doesn't rob people. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:34.319 He's not a cheat. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:36.479 He doesn't cheat on his wife. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.319 He's a member of the Lions Club, the PTA, he eats at Chick-fil-A. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:41.680 He's everything we want him to be, right? 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.159 He's got a he even fasts. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.000 Can you imagine it? 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.240 I know you can't, bunch of Americans in a room. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.520 He fasts twice a week. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:56.159 He gives money to the church. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.360 This is legitimately a good guy. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:08.639 But it all starts with thank you, God, that I'm not like other men. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.439 Thank you that I'm not like the people who vote that way. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:14.479 You know. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.960 Just the way that you don't vote. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:22.560 I'm not like the people who believe that way on that issue. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.479 I don't speak that way. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.599 I'm not like I'm not a parent who has no control over their kids. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.199 I'm not like that parent, right? 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:34.719 Or God, thank you that I'm not like the young, angry black man. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.599 Or I'm not like the racist cop who fired the gun. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.800 Or I'm not like my friend who keeps making the same mistake over and over and over again. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.360 I'm nothing like them. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.280 Thank you, God. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.319 I'm not like other men. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:03.280 So the first man knows everything about his behaviors. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.080 And he knows very little about his soul. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:15.439 He's living from the flesh, which is the false self that uses costumes to feel righteous and to form an identity. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:17.759 You know, your skin's a costume. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:24.720 I'm very thankful for that because last week I was tucking my little girl into bed and she told me I had a really big nose. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:34.000 And I thought, this is something I've known for a very long time in my life, and thank you for pointing it out repeatedly at bedtime. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.199 And I'm thankful that it's just a costume. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:42.240 Our skin's a costume, your escapes are costumes. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.639 Your religion can very easily be a costume. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:54.000 Religion's actually a wonderful costume because it makes you feel incredibly good about yourself. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:15.439 Because the flesh is telling you that if you're actually known underneath that costume, underneath the good deeds or the practices, underneath all of that, the inside of you, the core, the soul, if you're actually known there, your flesh is saying you couldn't be loved there. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:19.759 So you need a costume. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.680 And it'll be easy. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:25.519 So Luke's saying, it'll be easy to trust in your costume. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.959 And then the second guy shows up, a real bozo. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.480 I mean, this guy's a real bozo. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.560 We look at his, oh goodness, this guy shows up and he's a cheat. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:36.800 He robs people as a career. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:39.199 He has this deal set up with the Roman government. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:44.319 So the deal is he collects taxes from all the people in his area. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:49.680 And he gives a set percentage to the Romans, but anything extra he gets to keep. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:54.959 So he can just keep raising taxes or put pressure on people and keep just getting more and more money. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.240 Gives the same amount to the Romans, but he gets to keep the extra. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:03.519 So he's getting, he's getting richer and richer off of the people who live all around him. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:05.519 He has no friends. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.959 And this guy does something unexpected. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.199 He calls out his costume. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.720 He calls out the flesh in confession to God. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:15.199 Right? 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:15.759 Listen to it. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:17.279 Luke 18, verse 13. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:25.839 But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.759 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:40.000 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:42.800 Doesn't that feel scandalous? 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:50.959 Doesn't it feel scandalous that the guy who actually had the record went home empty-handed? 00:06:51.279 --> 00:07:00.480 And the guy who came with nothing except the courage to confess, he goes home justified. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:02.160 That's what a scandal is. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.759 It's not what you thought it should be, right? 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:06.800 That's a scandal. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.959 It should be this way, but it's not that way. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:19.759 Years ago, I was working at an organization and probably probably about 40 employees or so, and one day around lunchtime, everybody receives an email. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:23.279 The entire organization receives the email that says, emergency. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.240 And you think, oh goodness, what's going on? 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.959 Something serious is going on. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.000 Click it to open it. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:40.079 There was a prepared sandwich in the break room fridge of the boss's wife. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:42.639 And somebody ate it. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:46.000 Emergency. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:48.560 Scandal. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:08:02.720 Playfully, a friend of mine replies all that he's pretty sure he saw someone eating it in the north stairwell in the shadows, but he could not make out the face of the culprit. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:08.319 That didn't go over well, so there were more emails. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:11.680 And then there was a meeting. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.639 This is what you do in an organization. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:18.319 We had a meeting about the scandal, the sandwich scandal. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:23.360 What rules should govern the fridge in the break room? 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.279 This is how you should spend your time. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:30.079 And we know the rules, but this was a sandwich scandal. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:31.360 How could this happen, right? 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:34.879 The bozo is getting away scot-free with this sandwich. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.080 He did not earn, he didn't deserve it, he didn't have the position for it. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.879 And the break room fridge is governed by a law. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:43.360 You know the law if you've worked anywhere. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:46.399 You don't eat other people's food. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:47.600 There's really two laws. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:50.559 The second one would be when your food's super old, throw it away. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.080 There's only two laws. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.000 And we all know the rule. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:04.320 And some bozo shows up and eats a sandwich marked for the boss's wife. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:06.720 It's a scandal. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:08.639 It's not what it should be, right? 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.919 The bozo goes home full. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:20.320 And the one who actually had the record doesn't get it. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.519 The religious man goes home empty-handed. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:25.600 What a scandalous passage. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:37.200 And the guy with no record, he doesn't deserve it, yet he's courageous enough to confess his sinfulness. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:40.559 That costume he's been dressed up as. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.440 He gets the meal. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.000 Point number one was this. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.879 The grace of God is scandalous to a world that loves all sorts of costumes. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:59.039 The grace of God is scandalous to us who we love all sorts of costumes. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:09:59.679 Right? 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:08.159 A worldly man who's cheating and getting money, he's greedy, that's a costume, or the religious man with all his good deeds, his costume, either one. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.679 And the grace of God is scandalous to all of it. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:17.360 That says, no, no, no, like underneath, underneath all the costumes, underneath your soul, what's going on there? 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.480 Will you confess your sin? 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:28.240 Will you be honest to who you are, that you're beautifully created and yet you're broken in your sin and you need the grace of God? 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.080 We do that, we live there, we live from that place. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.720 The grace of God is scandalous to a world that loves merit. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:44.159 Point number two is this in Jesus, you can drop the performance costume and you can be you. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:49.600 In Jesus, you can drop the performance costume and you can be you. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.039 The first man creates a lot of questions for us. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.440 Do you spend your quiet moments counting up and measuring how good you are, trying to build a case? 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.600 Are you anxious when it comes to where you stand with God? 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.279 Like on a day-to-day basis. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:08.960 Are you anxious about that? 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:16.240 Do you find yourself sliding comments and conversations with other people to make yourself look better? 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.440 Do you look down upon the hurting and the poor and the addicted? 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.799 Like, man, they they should have made better decisions. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:34.720 Are you capable of loving people, or do you just use them for approval that you would feel loved? 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:41.519 And then the second man for me, at least this week, has created one question in my heart. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.320 Are you using Christian faith as another costume? 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:52.240 Or is God Himself finding the real you under all the costumes? 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:57.440 Are you using your Christian faith just as another costume in front of people in front of God? 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:03.279 Or is God Himself actually finding the you underneath all the costumes? 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.879 Because I can feel it in the morning when I get quiet before the Lord. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:16.799 I can feel that fork in the road where I have the option of the option to be before Him, just me, apart from position or fathering or pastoring or preaching? 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.840 Will I exist there or will I exist with a bit of a costume on? 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.799 Because I'm still unsure if the grace of God could be that sufficient. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:33.440 Listen, God is already proud of you. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:35.519 He's already proud of you. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.480 There's no need to move from one costume to the next. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:45.919 It's so easy, this passage is so profound, so easy to go from the second man to the first man. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.799 Just change costumes. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:55.039 But not to live as the second man in that kind of confession. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:57.679 And God already loves you. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:02.000 He already loves you, not because you're perfect, but because Jesus was perfect for you, right? 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.480 Hidden in Christ, we have victory. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:06.879 The costume can begin to come off. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:16.480 Your sin is put upon him who knew no sin, that our righteousness comes from him, put on us, that we might be the beloved of God. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:21.519 It means you don't have to show up in front of God with your righteousness report like this man did. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:25.279 It means you don't have to pity yourself in some sort of poverty and self-pity. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.519 It just means you can say, like, here's who I am. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:28.799 Thank you for the grace of God. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.000 Thank you, God, for that grace. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:31.519 Thank you for the gift of Jesus. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.159 I don't have to keep putting on costumes. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:43.440 Then you will know the grace of God that brings freedom and also brings growth, transformation. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:51.279 See, I think the question in here, a lot of this, the question is, is what's underneath the costume? 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.279 Like, what's the sin under the sin? 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:00.799 Like for this first man, for this second man, the second man lived in the costume a long time, finally he confesses it, he figures it out. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.360 The first man has this costume, this persona, but what's going on, what's underneath that? 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:06.879 What's the sin under the sin? 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:10.240 Or maybe what's the wound under the behaviors? 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.679 Like, why am I doing this? 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.080 Why am I putting this out there? 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:17.519 Why do I have this shield? 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:19.679 Why do I have this mask on? 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.919 Before God or before people? 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:28.960 My youngest daughter, she's five years old, and last year at preschool, she took an art class. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:38.240 And so she comes home one day and she has this construction paper and it's all like wrapped up and taped and sticking up in the air, kind of funky, and she says, Dad, it's a Chahuli. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.679 She learned about Chahuli. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.080 So if you don't know what Chahuli is, he's real eccentric. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.720 He's a glass sculpture guy, and he wears a patch, his hair is crazy. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.360 And she just loves Chahuli. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:50.720 She learned about Chahuli. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.279 She gave us random facts about Chahuli. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:03.039 And so this summer we were visiting some family in Seattle and we were downtown and we're walking along and we see these sculptures sticking high up in the air, and she says, Dad, that's a Chahuli. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.159 That's a Chahuli. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:05.440 Like she knows it. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:10.480 And she we walk over there and it's his museum because he lives in Seattle. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:14.000 Whole museum, huge, full of his work. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.360 So I walk over and get the prices. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:18.480 We have about an hour to kill. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.960 I get the prices,$25 a person. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.879 I go, uh, times five, uh, hour. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:26.639 I don't know. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:32.879 I come back and say, hey, Christy, I'm gonna take her in the gift shop and act like that's the museum. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.919 Let's see how that goes. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.120 So I take her in the gift shop. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:48.639 This is the Chihuli Museum, you know, and walk around, and there's like a few pieces for sale out there, so we act like those are the works. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.720 There's pictures of his words, walk around, I think I've won it, I think this is good. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:57.200 And we we walk back outside of the uh gift shop, right outside, and she looks to the left. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.720 I wish she had not looked to the left. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:18.720 She looks to the left, just behind the bushes, a hedge, they made sure the hedge was just low enough that you could see this huge glass building back behind the hedge, massive, like a gymnasium, and hanging from this gymnasium these huge Chihuli sculptures, and she sees it and she says, I want to go in there. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.360 Like very clearly, that that ain't the gift shop. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.480 Like, there's there was something else going on. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:33.600 So$50 later, me and her in the first room, and it was designed room by room. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:37.679 You went from one room to the next, and each room got more and more amazing. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:44.240 The first room we're in, the ceiling was glass, the walls were glass, all his sculptures are pressed up against it. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:49.919 So you're in this room, you're kind of just surrounded by it, it's all backlit, and it's just amazing. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.200 And she stands there perfectly content. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.039 Just smiling, amazed. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.679 She's looking at all of it, she's taking it in, she's almost overwhelmed. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.039 She didn't even talk. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.640 She's just looking. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:14.079 And we'd walk into the next room, and I would just let her walk in each room by herself. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.599 I'd walk right behind her, I'm taking pictures, being a dad. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:26.799 And the next room is a huge, long, 30, 40-yard room, and in the middle, it's set up like a massive garden of his sculptures, just going everywhere. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:28.319 It's unbelievable. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:36.319 And room by room, every room, I would let her walk in first, and she would just walk in and be amazed. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.640 She wouldn't talk. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.759 She would just get hit by sort of the majesty of it. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:46.559 She didn't talk. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.359 She didn't talk about her artwork. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:54.079 She didn't talk about her the facts she knew. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:56.480 She just took it in. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:01.519 She had nothing to bring to it except herself. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.480 We got out of the museum, she runs up to Christy and right away. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:09.599 She's shown every picture. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:11.440 Look at this, and this was this, and this was this. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:12.880 She's showing all the pictures. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:16.720 Because she had she had been in front of something so beautiful it overwhelmed her. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:21.440 Something so good she had nothing to bring before it except herself. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:28.640 I mean, how silly to come into a room full of Chihuli sculpture and to talk about your work. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.079 Or to analyze it to death. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:33.279 No, you don't. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.000 You come before it and you just you're in awe of it. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.279 Or if you say anything, you say something like, Woe is me. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.200 A sinner. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:47.119 You see, this is what Jesus is talking about. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.960 Humble yourself that you might be exalted. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.000 Your victory is not in your word, it is in his word. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.880 You are hidden in Christ. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:14.799 My brothers and sisters, in the Holy Spirit of God, may you be empowered to have great courage to live in confession and enjoy your justification in Jesus. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:16.160 Let's pray together. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:22.559 God, thank you for the great and the good news that you hear the confessions of the weak. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:27.119 And in our weakness we are made strong because in our weakness we come to you. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.519 And you are sufficient. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:31.759 You are enough. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:43.519 Forgive us for the ways that we promote ourselves, our work, our achievement, our successes, even our Christian faith, before you and before others. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:58.319 Help us to see how deep our need is of you for our sin and our wounds, and how sufficient you are, that your grace is always deeper and always enough. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.200 That Jesus is always enough for us. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:12.079 Would you help us to know in greater ways the great wealth of our belovedness and Jesus, your son? 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:13.279 Amen.