After the Lord's baptism. He
was driven of the spirit. Into the wilderness. To be tempted. And he was there 40 days. Being tempted of the devil. I'm going to attempt to speak
on the temptation. Of Christ. And Mark records this
event. The other gospel writers give
it more detail. Tempted of Satan. Temptation. I believe everybody
in this room knows something about temptation. The temptation
to sin. And you've got something in you
and I've got something in me. to where there's a strong draw
to that temptation. And anytime we're tempted to
sin, it's all our fault. Now, understand that we can't
say, well, God sovereignly allowed me to be tempted of sin. That's not the way we should
be looking at our sin. Listen to what James says in
James chapter one, verse 13, Let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God. God's trying to get me to commit
sin. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he
any man. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own
lust and enticed. Then when lust hath been sieved,
it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it's finished. bringing
forth death, do not err, my beloved brethren. My sin is always my
fault. And if I give in to temptation,
it is always my fault. Let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God. Now, the first temptation and
the first fault was not really Adam and Eve, it was Lucifer,
Satan, the son of the morning. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 14? Isaiah chapter 14. Verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer? Son of the morning, how art thou
cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mountain
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Yet, thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit. And that's precisely what took
place. He coveted equality with God. He didn't want to be under God's
thumb. And God brought him down. And he is the one who tempted
our first parents in the garden. He's called the tempter. He's
called the accuser of the brethren. He's called the serpent. He's
called the devil. Many names, the God of this world,
the prince of this world. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter two? Now, there is not a more important
chapter in the word of God in Genesis chapter three. But let's
set it up with the command in Genesis chapter two. And the
Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. But there's one tree. of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Could God have prevented this
from happening? Could he have kept Adam from
eating the fruit? Of course he could. But God purposed for Adam to
eat that fruit. Somebody says, well, doesn't
it say God doesn't tempt anybody to sin? God didn't tempt anybody
to sin. But God purposed for Adam to eat that fruit. It was all according to his purpose. Somebody says, are you charging
God with evil? No, but I'm saying that this was God's purpose or
it wouldn't have happened. Isn't that true of everything? God
is God. Let me remind you, God made the
world. God permitted the fall of Adam
for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before Adam's fall,
there was Christ crucified in the purpose and mind of God.
The cross is the most glorious thing. Well, we can't conceive
it, it's revealed. And this was all according to
God's purpose. Now, he's placed in the garden. with everything you could possibly
desire. There was only one constraint. There's one tree you're not to
eat of. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Now, chapter three. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. The serpent
was not yet crawling on its belly. That didn't happen until after
the fall and it was cursed to that, but it wasn't yet crawling
on its belly. I believe that this was no doubt
a very attractive and appealing creature that could speak to
Adam and Eve like this. A magnificent creature, but he
was more subtle, more deceitful than any beast of the field.
And we know that this is Satan, the devil. Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, and this is his attempt
to tempt her to sin. He's the tempter. And he is using
the knowledge and understanding he has to make this creature
of God fall. with malicious intent. He hated
God and anything important to God, he wanted to go down. That was his purpose. And he begins, yea, hath God
said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Now, did
God say that? No. He changed what God said. He added to what God said, and
any addition is a subtraction. And this is where things begin,
changing what God has said. Now listen, God's word is God's
word to be believed just as it's stated. And he was calling into
question that, changing God's word. That's a horrible thing
to do. Has God said you should not eat of every tree of the
garden? No, God didn't say that. Look at her reply, verse two.
And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. We're allowed to eat of every
tree, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden. God has said you should not eat of it, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die. Now, she knew that what
Satan said was wrong. She said, we can eat of any of
these trees, but there's one we can't. And I think it's interesting
how she added something to it. Now, it seems like it would be
good advice to not touch the tree God said not to eat of.
I mean, I can see where someone would get that, but still God
didn't say that. And the only thing that's right is what God
says. And to add anything to it is dangerous. And I've even
read and heard where people have said, this is where touch not,
taste not, handle not religion began. Don't touch it, don't
touch it. Now, God didn't say if you touched
it, you'll die. He said, if you eat of it, but
she added that. And so the fall has already began. Verse four, now the serpent gives
her The lie. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. You don't have to take what God
said literally. You don't have to be so exact
about it. You shall not surely die. Verse five, for God doth know
that in the day you shall eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened. and you shall be as God. You'll be on an equal footing
with God, knowing good and evil. That tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, God's holding out on you. You see, he knows
that if you eat of this tree, you'll be like him. You'll know
good and evil. And here's the glorious thing
about God. This is what is implied in this. God knows good and evil
and chooses the good over the evil. You're just obeying your nature.
There's no real value in your obedience because you're just
obeying your nature. God made you this way. He made
you good. And you're not really making a choice like God does.
You're not making a choice. Now, in reality, after you've heard this, in reality,
I can say that Eve said, you know, that makes sense. That
makes sense. It seems like you would be better
off if you chose the good over the evil, rather than just obeying
your nature. Now, what he was tempting her
with, and listen real carefully, what he was tempting her with
is free will. Free will. Free will is a declaration of
independence from God's will. If I have a free will, that means
my will isn't subject to God's will. That means I get to do
what I want. Free will is rebellion against
God's will. Here's what free will says, I'm
not subject to God. We will not have this man to
reign over us. That's what free will says. People
believe free will is naturally and all it is is rebellion against
God. It's nothing but evil. Now she
couldn't see this. She thought this makes sense.
I mean, we ought to choose the good over the bad. We ought to
have a free will. It made all the sense in the
world to her. She took the bait. Now, did you know that there
is no such thing as free will? It is an absurdity. Your will is controlled by your
nature. A tiger could eat grass if he
wanted to, couldn't he? You couldn't stop him. but he'll
never do it because it's against his nature. God's will is governed
by God's nature. God is holy. God cannot lie. God cannot choose to do evil
because God is holy. God is glorious. God doesn't
have a free will. He has a perfect will. He has
a sovereign will. But he's not free to sin. He's
not free to act contrary to his nature. That's the point. Neither
is a natural man. Your will is controlled by your
nature. And if you have a sinful nature,
that sinful nature controls that will. There is no such thing
as free will. And I love thinking this. God's will is never trumped by
man's will. God's will is always done. Now, verse six. He has given
her this scenario. If you eat of this tree, your
eyes will be opened. You'll have a free will. You'll
be able to choose the good over the evil. And that's what will
make you like God. Sounded good. Look in verse six. Now, before I read this, here
we have what John calls the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life. 1 John 2, 17. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. For all that's in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passes away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. Now, the lust of the flesh. The
pleasure of sin. There is pleasure in sin. People
wouldn't commit it if there wasn't pleasure in it. There's pleasure
in sin. That's the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the eyes. Well, what's the lust of the
eyes? That's when you're more concerned about what men see
than what God sees. That's when you love the praise
of men better than the praise of God. That's when you're more
concerned about what men think about you than what God thinks
about you, and you're controlled by the fear of man. That is the
lust of the eyes, being concerned about what other people see.
And then there's the pride of life, the lust for power ability over other people, an
advantage over other people. I like the way these three things
are pleasure, popularity, and power. Those would be the three simple
words that describe the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life. Pleasure, popularity, being concerned
about what men think about you, and power. You know, if you understand
anything about power, if you understand anything about power,
you know you have no power, and power belongeth to the Lord,
and you know that. And the folks that are going
after power like this obviously don't have any understanding
of what true power is. But let's read this now, and
look for these things as we look at this verse. And when the woman saw And this
is the devil's temptation. He's brilliant in the way he
did this. But, you know, he was only doing God's will. He was
only fulfilling God's purpose. That's all he was doing. He thought
he was defeating God. He didn't know he was dooming
himself and and making sure he's going to be destroyed. But here
he is. He thinks he's foiling God and
destroying God's greatest creation. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes. The lust of the eyes, it would
make you look better to others. And a tree to be desired, to
make one wise, the pride of life. to have wisdom and power over
other people to put me up on God's level to where I'm no longer
under his thumb. I'll be as God. I'll know the
difference between good and evil. I'll be able to choose the right
over the wrong. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat. Now, this is an important distinction.
Did she fall right then? No. No. You see, God said to Adam in
the day, you eat of the fruit, you will surely die. So she didn't
die yet. But what happened next? And she
gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Now what kind
of went on behind here, I don't
know. I don't know whether she said,
look, it didn't hurt me. It won't hurt you. I don't know if Adam
thought, I know what's going to happen, and we're both going
to die, and I'm going to die with you. I don't know if that
was going on. And somehow, in a way, that almost makes what
Adam did noble. So I'm not sure that I believe
that that's what took place. I've heard people say that. But
I mean, what Adam did was an act of rebellion against God.
There wasn't anything noble about it. It was evil. But he took
the fruit, and he ate. And what happened? Verse seven,
and the eyes of them both were opened and they knew they were
naked. And they were naked before this.
And it wasn't an issue. There wasn't one sinful thought
that went through their mind. They had innocent natures. They
didn't know what sin was. Everybody could have been butt
naked and there would have been nothing. There wouldn't be one
lustful thought, one sinful thought. But now, after they eat this
fruit, they now have an evil nature, and their eyes are opened. You see, they've died. They didn't
die physically, but they died spiritually. And what's the first
thing they did? The first thing they did is try to create a covering
for their sin, their own covering. That's what that fig leaf represents.
Salvation by works. They tried to hide their sin
from God through their works. And they made that apron of fig
leaves, their shite. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. I have
no doubt that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the voice of God.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
amongst the trees of the garden. They used to relish and love
being in God's presence, but no more. The Lord called him,
Adam, and said unto him, where art thou? I don't know how the
Lord said that. I would like to heard the way
it sounded. Somehow I think it was said in
compassion. Adam, where are you? What have
you done? And he wasn't asking that because
he didn't know, obviously. He was letting Adam contemplate
that question. And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And he said, who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten
of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
And then we start the blame game. The man said, the woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me the tree and I did eat.
And the obvious implication is, if you hadn't given me this woman,
that would have never happened. This is your fault. This is not my
fault. That's the natural man. Always
shifting the blame, always trying to vindicate and justify yourself.
If you hadn't have done this, I wouldn't have done that. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
the serpent beguiled me. That serpent that you created,
he beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the serpent,
because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle
and above every beast of the field, and upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life,
and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between
thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel. That's the first gospel message.
I guess the first gospel message is Genesis 1.1, but this is one
of the first gospel messages. when the promise of the woman
seed would come and crush the serpent's head and the serpent
would bruise his heel. And that's what took place on
the cross. Centuries later, the seed of woman is born. The promise seed, the son of
God, born of a virgin. And to us a child is born, and
to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And he's
born. He's born in obscurity. I love
to think about the 30 years, what all must have taken place
during that 30 years when nobody knew who he was. We're only given
that one event when he was 12, when he said, I must be about
my father's business. And that's all he was doing through
those 30 years. He was being about his father's
business, working out a perfect righteousness. Nobody got it. I love thinking about that. You
know, when people looked at the Lord, this is the one time, the
only time holiness walked upon this earth and nobody even recognized
it. That lets us know about how little
we know about holiness. For 30 years, he lived in obscurity,
and then his public ministry began when he came to John to
be baptized. We considered that last week,
but turn to Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three. Verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan and to John to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, if you can understand that,
you can understand the gospel. Thus it becometh us. What he did,
always he did as us. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. And he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, he went up straightway out of the water.
And lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo,
a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. Now, you know somebody else who
heard that? The devil. I don't have any doubt that Satan
watched every minute of that 30 years. Have no doubt. Looking, looking, trying to find
out what he could do. And he heard that voice from
heaven. Thou art my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Verse one, chapter four, was
Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. Could Jesus Christ, the son of
God, be tempted to sin? It says he was led to be tempted
of the devil. I've heard people say, well,
the point is he didn't, whether he could have or could not have,
the point is he didn't, he never sinned. So it doesn't really
matter What do you believe about that? The fact of the matter
is, he didn't sin. So you don't need to ask the
question as to whether or not he could be tempted to sin. And the argument is, is that
if he couldn't be tempted to sin, there wasn't any virtue
in him resisting temptation. I mean, what did he, if he couldn't
be tempted in the first place, what's the point in him being
tempted? If he couldn't sin, but he could, and he resisted
it. That's the same line Satan used
in the garden with Eve. There's no virtue in what you're
doing because you're not making a choice. That's the same line,
the same reasoning. Now, I'd like to put an end to
this. Let's settle this once and for
all. Is Jesus God? Yes. Can God sin? No. Can Jesus Christ sin? No. He doesn't have the potential
to sin. If you said Jesus Christ had
the potential to sin, you would also be saying he has the potential
to not be immutable, that he could change. You'd also be saying
he's not God. You'd also be saying, if he could
sin then, he could sin right now and change right now. You
see, he's not changed in his essence. He'd be the same. Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If he could
sin then, he could sin now. It's blasphemous to say that
Jesus Christ could sin. It's blasphemous. And we don't
believe that for a second. So why was he tempted? Well, he was, and he is brought
into the wilderness, verse two, and when he had fasted 40 days
and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. Now remember, just
the ability to be tempted is sin. Just having that desire is sin. You know, you sinned before the
commission of the sin. You know, Eve sinned before she
ate that fruit. It was with that temptation.
And here the Lord is, when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights,
he was afterward and hungry. Now, can you imagine going 40
days without food? I can't. And can you imagine
how hungry you would be? And this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's the God-man, fully God, fully man, the God-man Christ
Jesus. God was manifested in the flesh.
He went 40 days fasting without food. And look what the devil
does. And when the tempter came to
him, he said, if you're the son of God, now I heard that. I heard
that. I heard the father say that.
If you are, I think it's interesting how these movies that have portrayed
Christ, the Jesus Christ superstar, and all those different kind
of movies, they portray him as somebody who doubted. Am I the
son of God? He never doubted he was the son
of God. He knew at all times he's the
eternal uncreated son of God manifest in the flesh. The devil
wasn't going to get him to question his sonship, but the devil saying,
prove it. Here you are hungry. Here's these
rocks. If you're really the son of God,
you can perform a miracle and you can turn these rocks into
bread and satisfy your hunger and everything will be okay.
Now, the Lord didn't do it. He said, it is written. Now,
I want you to think of the high honor the Lord put on the scriptures.
In all three of these temptations, how did he answer the devil?
It's written. That's how glorious and powerful
and divine the word of God is. When Christ answered the devil,
he said, it is written thou shalt not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Now the
Lord could and did perform many miracles, but he didn't perform this one.
Why? Because me and you can't do it.
And as our representative, he had to face everything we do. And he lived by utter faith and
dependence on his father to feed him. He wasn't going to do anything
that we couldn't do to feed himself. All these miracles, they were
never for himself. They attested his deity, that he did what only
God could do. And people saw it. But you know,
no one ever believed from seeing a miracle. And the devil is saying,
if you really are the son of God, I heard that. Well, if you
really are, you're going to command that these stones be made bread.
You can do that. And he wouldn't do it because
you and I can't. How dependent are you on the
Lord for everything? I can't take that far enough, can I?
I mean, we're just utterly dependent on an utterly independent God. And Christ Jesus was being completely
dependent upon his father. So he would not command that
those stones be made bread. Verse five. Then the devil taketh
him into the holy city. and said to them on a pinnacle
of the temple. Now how this happened, I don't know, but I mean, he
was really high. And there the two of them are on the very top
of that pinnacle. And he saith unto them, I guess you saw the first one,
the lust of the flesh. Command these stones to be made bread.
That's the temptation regarding the lust of the flesh. Now here's
the second one, the lust of the eyes. The devil taketh him up
into a holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple.
He saith unto him, if thou be the son of God, there we are
again, he's questioning sonship. If thou be son of God, like I
heard that voice from heaven say, cast thyself down for it
is written. Now the devil uses the scriptures.
He knows the Scriptures better than me and you do. I guarantee
he can quote the Bible from cover to cover and use it in every
way he can. He always does. Every time somebody
gets up and preaches and doesn't preach the Gospel, the devil's
giving them Scriptures to use to prove their point where there's
no understanding of it. And the devil uses the Scriptures
with Christ. Now somebody thinks, doesn't
he know better than that? Seems like he would. I mean,
this is the Christ. This is the Son of God. He knew
who He was. He's a finite being, and he was
looking for some way to bring Christ down anyway. And that's
all you can say. He was making his attempt. And
he said, if you're the son of God, cast yourself down, for
it's written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, and
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou
dash thy foot against a stone. Then Jesus said unto him, it's
written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Now, what's
that mean? He quotes Psalm 91, and he says,
if you really are the Son of God, show me. Jump off, and an
angel will catch you before you hit the ground, and that will
prove to me that you're the Son of God. Show me. Demonstrate
to me. Show me a sign so I can believe. That is the lust of the eyes,
as if the Lord had to prove anything to anybody. And I love the way
The Lord said, you're not to tempt the Lord God. Now here's
the point. If God says it, it's so. I don't need somebody to prove
it. If God says it, it's so. And I'm not going to try to tempt
him. Somebody says, God said it, I believe it, that settles
it. No, no, no. If God said it forever, oh Lord,
thy word is settled in the heavens. The Lord's not trying to prove
anything to you or me. He doesn't need our affirmation.
Oh, I believe you're the son of God now, as if he needs the
affirmation of some puny man. He doesn't need that. And all
we need is the word of God. You know, in Abraham, Abraham
knew who God was. when the Lord appeared to him,
the Lord revealed himself to him. And so a few chapters later,
when it says Abraham believed God, God told him something that
Abraham had no physical evidence of, that he was gonna, he didn't
have any kids. He said, your descendants will
be like the sand of the sea, like the stars of heaven. The
only evidence Abraham had was what God said, nothing else. And he believed. Now, This book is the inspired
word of God, and we believe what God says. So here we have the
lust of the eyes. Give me something to prove as
if he needed his approval and the popularity. Never forget
this. You know when the Lord, he'd
do something, he'd say, don't tell anybody. You think, why
not? I'll tell you exactly why. He
wasn't trying to gain a following. He wasn't trying to do something
to please men. He was performing his father's
will. He said, my meat and drink is
to do the will of him that sent me. That's exactly what he was
doing. And he didn't need the praise of men, you know, in that
sense. He's not one of those people who loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. Now let's go on reading. And
the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, verse
eight. and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world in the
glory of them. And as Luke's account says, he
showed them all in a moment of time. He saw everything, all
the kingdoms of the world. I don't know if that means all
the kingdoms of all history, all the kings at that time, but
he saw everything in a moment of time. Some kind of miracle
took place that this could happen. And he showed him the glory of
them in verse nine. And he said unto him, all these
things will I give you if you'll fall down and worship me. Now
somebody's thinking, well, how could the devil give them to
him when they're not his to give? Well, he said in Luke's account,
all the power of these kingdoms is delivered unto me. Now, let
me let you in on something. The United States has never been
a Christian nation. nor has any other nation. And
every nation and every government is controlled by the devil. Now
he, God controls him. He's God's devil on God's chain
doing God's will, whether he knows it or not. But still every
nation, every government is controlled by the devil. There's never been
a Christian nation. I really despise it when I hear
people talking about, you know, we need to get back to our roots
as a Christian nation. We never have been a Christian nation.
And that the Lord uses this, or Satan uses this temptation,
I'll give you everything if you'll make this one little concession.
All you gotta do is fall down and worship me. Won't take but
a couple seconds. Get back up and get on with running
with the world. That's all I'm asking you to do. Fall down and
worship me. And look how the Lord answered.
Then said Jesus unto them, Get thee hence, Satan, for it's written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve. You only worship the sovereign,
and the sovereign son, by the sovereign spirit, worships his
sovereign father. And we do the same. We worship
God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, our first parents fell before
this threefold temptation, and they had innocent natures at
the time. We don't have what they had to
work with, and we've done even worse, and we would have done
what they would have done. Don't think for a second you wouldn't
have. Whatever they did, you would have done. You were in them.
And we have fallen before temptation, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. Who hadn't fallen before
this threefold evil? The lust for pleasure, the desire
for popularity, the desire for power. So you have something
over somebody. We've fell. But he didn't. That's the point. What he did,
he did as in us. When he resisted the devil, I
did too. When he never fell before temptation,
I never did either. And on Judgment Day, when the
books are opened, You're going to see a, when Todd Nybert's
name is called and every believer's name is called, you're going
to see a perfect record of having never fallen. But until then,
until then, what did the Lord teach us to pray? Lead us not into temptation.
You see, how well do you handle temptation? Don't answer that. The point is, Lord, don't let
me be tempted. I'm afraid I'm so weak and sinful
that I'll just put a hedge around me. Don't let me be tempted. The Lord teaches us to pray that
daily. That ought to be something very
real in our heart, in our thought every day. Lord, don't let me
be tempted. Prevent me from being tempted.
One last scripture, Hebrews chapter four. Hearts are glad the Lord worked
out a perfect righteousness. And then after that, he went
to the cross and put away our sins and gave us his righteousness.
And when you're reading in Hebrews chapter two, I thought of that
when it says that he might in all things be made like unto
his brethren. I thought he was even made sin because I am. He
united himself to me in all things. He was made like unto his brethren
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. Now look here in Hebrews chapter
four, beginning in verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was at all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Now somebody says, that's not
tempted like I am. That's not tempted like I am,
because good grief, I've sinned. I mean, I can't even relate with
somebody who's never sinned. Well, here's something that I
can say that I don't understand, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
He experienced sin more acutely than you or I ever could. Because
he never sinned, he never committed sin, but he experienced all the
horror and the shame and the guilt and the being forsaken
and the way your sin makes you feel. When he looks at you, he's
touched by that. He's been there. much more acutely
than you have. But when you feel overcome with
your own infirmities and so weak and so sinful, He's not getting
mad at you. He's touched, moved to sympathy. That seems so good to be true,
doesn't it? But it is true. It's who He is.
He's touched by the feelings. All those feelings that we have,
he's touched by the feelings of our infirmities. Let us, verse
16, therefore come boldly into the throne of grace. Now the
only throne I can come to boldly is the throne of grace. But he
said, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy. That's what I need. And find
grace to help. in time of need. What a glorious
high priest. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that in
our place you stood and allowed the devil to tempt you and how
thankful we are for your perfect holiness. You said concerning
him that he came and found nothing in you. He found nothing that
he could grab, nothing that he could use, nothing. And Lord,
we know in us there's so much that he could so easily turn
us inside out. But Lord, how we thank you, you
stood for us and defeated him. and worked out a perfect righteousness
in our behalf and put away our sin for Christ's sake. Lord,
we give thanks for the gospel. I bless this message for your
glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray.