Matthew 6:1-18

Commonly called the Sermon on the Mount.

And we've been spending the last couple of weeks on the matter of prayer and how Jesus modeled for us to pray.

Today's text is going to be Matthew 6, verses 11-18.

Matthew 6:11–18

But the larger context, I think, is really going to serve us well this morning.

So, I'm going to begin reading in verse 1 of chapter 6 and on through verse 18.

So follow along with me.

But before I read, beloved, let me remind you that this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and our good.

And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Matthew 6, beginning in verse 1 and following.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.

That they may be praised by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

So that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners.

That they may be seen by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.

For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Do not be like them.

For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Pray then like this.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

For they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.

That your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

As we saw over the past two weeks, Jesus teaches us that those who can call God Father

can approach Him because of the personal work of Jesus Christ boldly,

with reverence and awe, and make their requests known to Him.

And so we worked over the past two weeks on verses 9 and 10.

And I gave you four points from that, which contained in them the exhortation to pray.

We ought to be people who pray.

And we should pray like Jesus, our Father in heaven.

Our Father in heaven.

We should be approaching Him with bold reverence.

Because we belong to Him.

We are His children and He cares for us.

We then noted that the first three petitions of Jesus' model prayer are aimed Godward.

They're not aimed at us in our praying.

They're aimed toward Him.

So our second point in the first petition was,

Pray like Jesus, hallowed be Your name.

Your name be known.

Your name be praised.

Honored.

Reverenced be Your name.

The second petition and our third point was pray like Jesus.

Your kingdom come.

As those who belong to the kingdom of God and are sojourning in this place,

we ought to want to see the full fruition of God's reign in this world.

We want to see this come to pass.

And the fourth point and third petition,

don't feel like you have to track me through that.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

There are people who long for that,

to see God's final and full reign here on the earth.

So the first three are Godward.

They're aimed at His acclaim, His fame, His glory.

The final three petitions all speak to our great dependence on this God.

How much we need this God to act.

I hope that you know enough of yourself and enough of God to see your great need of prayer.

Sadly, too many of us pray too little,

which can be a great sign of arrogant self-sufficiency.

You think far too much of yourself if you don't find yourself pleading before God everything.

We functionally say that we do not need God's presence or power.

We have it all figured out on our own.

And what a terrible deception this is.

We are utterly dependent upon God for our very being.

He is our creator and He is our sustainer.

And we accomplish no good thing apart from Him.

David writes, King David, in Psalm 62, verses 5 through 8,

Psalms 62:5–8

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in Him at all times, O people.

Pour out your heart before Him.

God is a refuge for us.

God is a refuge for us.

Which reads, I read it to you previously, verse 1.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

And the teaching on fasting comes up most certainly underneath this overall exhortation of Jesus in verse 1.

And so last week, as I won't be here next week and Clay will be preaching in my stead, I said to Clay,

Hey Clay, why don't you preach the text on fasting?

And he said, Well, it kind of goes with what you've been talking about.

You started off and you've referenced it already.

And addressing Matthew chapter 6, verse 1.

Matthew 6:1

And we had a good conversation about that.

And I said, You know, I'll handle it.

I'll take it and let you move on to the beginning of verse 19.

And Clay said, That'd be great because that's a great text.

I'm looking forward to doing that.

So I was kind of thinking, like, I'm just going to pick up the pieces, kind of the leftover parts of this.

Wrongly, I thought this way.

I thought, Well, somehow I'll make this work together.

In fact, I thought it'd be a little sporadic.

Okay, there's going to be three unrelated points this morning.

But not at all.

Upon further reflection on the text, I noticed that it is chiastic.

This is your big word for the day, chiastic.

This means that if you look at the text and you took it and you folded it on verse 13.

Can you imagine taking the text and folding it on verse 13?

The beginning of the text, verse 11, and the end of the text, verses 16 through 18,

are reflexive of each other.

They communicate together.

They're topically thematic.

And then you take a step in on the text as well.

And the same thing happens until you arrive at the very center of it, being verse 13.

Let me show you what I mean using the text itself.

So if we were to label, which are in my notes, I know that you can't see.

But if we were to label verse 11 as A, right?

Give us this day our daily bread.

And then verse 12, this prayer of forgiveness as B.

And then verse 13, this prayer for deliverance from evil as C.

So we've got this progression A, B, C.

Then you come back out of that fold of verse 13.

And you see verse 14 and 15 is again about forgiveness.

Right?

So notice verse 12 and verse 14 and 15 and the way that they communicate.

The same content here.

Jesus expands upon this idea he presents initially in verse 12.

And then the same thing, I believe, happens beginning in verse 16 and through the end of the text,

going back to give us this day our daily bread.

So the text is chiastic.

And there's lots of these chiasms in the Scripture.

And people can take them and do all kinds of bizarre things with them.

I'm not suggesting that at all.

The text still means what the text means on its surface.

But it helps us to see the beauty of Jesus' mind.

Right?

He is just speaking this.

And he uses this very common chiastic literary structure just in his regular speaking.

It's just a fascinating thing to see the way that all of it's intertwined together.

So, in our points today, we'll take verse 11 along with verses 16 through 18,

verse 12 along with verse 14 and 15, and verse 13.

And I'll walk you through that this morning.

So, the first point for this morning is pray like Jesus.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Give us this day our daily bread.

The first of today's petitions in Jesus' model prayer,

it's the fourth in the total prayer,

but the first of today's petition is for our very basic physical need, food.

For our very basic sustenance.

And the request, the way Jesus teaches us this,

draws upon God's provision for the Israelites found in Exodus chapter 16.

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

Familiar with the story of manna from heaven.

In verse 2, we can read Exodus chapter 16,

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

and the whole congregation of the people of Israel

grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them,

Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt

when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full,

for you have brought us out into this wilderness

to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

They said, we would rather be back in Egypt

and die at the hand of our oppressors

and have full bellies

than to be out here in the wilderness and starving.

And then in verse 4,

Then the Lord said to Moses,

Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you,

and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day

that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

So, they were to gather up just enough to eat for that day.

And on the sixth day,

they were to gather two days' worth

so that they could rest on a seventh day.

And this was enacted.

God intended for them to do this

to see if they would trust Him

and walk in His commandments.

And we know they didn't,

and manna rotted,

and the story goes on from there.

In the evening, He provided quail,

and they were able to eat meat as well.

So, Jesus is drawing on this type of image.

Give us our daily bread,

our manna from heaven.

And we, in the same way,

are meant to be trusting God in that way.

Each and every day,

trusting that He will provide for our physical needs.

So, in the case of the Israelites,

sojourning in the wilderness,

God provided bread and this meat miraculously.

Amazingly, the dew would lift

and left behind would be this bread

that they would turn into cakes.

Is this the way that normatively God provides today?

It's not, right?

But by what means does God normatively provide

our daily bread?

Through work.

He gives us work.

And we apply ourselves

in the energy that He gives us to work.

And in most cases,

your employer gives you money

and you use your money

to go buy your bread

or whatever else you may buy to eat.

But we make a grievous mistake

when we don't think that comes from God above.

When we don't pray in this way.

When we are not concerned at all

about where our provision is coming from

because our kitchens are so fully stocked.

When we think that it's by the labor of our hands

that these things have been gained

rather than seeing that it's God employing means

to His great ends of provision.

And so remembering that we're to pray like Jesus in this way

helps us to look to the one

from whom all good things come.

To trust Him in all things.

It only takes a few moments

when you feel any anxiety

for the provision of your life

to think back across

all of the days that you have lived.

And I would challenge you to take a calculator

and multiply 365

by how many years you've lived

and say God has provided

this many days.

And He will continue to provide

for today

and tomorrow

and the next.

And on.

A Spurgeon quote on your bulletin today says,

God sends every bird its food

but He does not throw it into the nest.

He gives us our daily bread

but it is through our own labor.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28.

Ephesians 4:28

Paul writes the following

and it's believed by most

that he's directing what he says in verse 28

to those who are part of the church

and were not working

but were receiving the benefit,

the benefit,

the generosity

of those in the church.

They were coming and eating meals

with the church

but they weren't providing anything

for those meals.

And Paul writes this,

Ephesians 4 verse 28.

Ephesians 4:28

Let the thief no longer steal

but rather let him labor

doing honest work

with his own hands.

And I find it fascinating

the way Paul concludes this verse.

Not so that he can eat for himself

but it goes beyond that even

so that he may have something to share

with anyone who is in need.

Certainly there's provision for himself

but he's to work,

to labor if he's able

so that he has something to share with others.

So we in the same way

are meant to pray

not just give me my daily bread

but give us this day

our daily bread.

Pray on behalf of others

and to provide for others.

So then how does the fasting piece

connect to this?

As I've said that this is chiastic.

He goes on to give some very specific instruction

about how we shouldn't

and how we should fast.

His predominant instruction here

as previously stated

ties back to chapter 6

and verse 1.

So he is once again

confronting the hypocrisy

of his day and ours.

Fasting was a thing

that was paraded about.

It was habited in Jesus' day

that on the second day of the week

and on the fifth day of the week

which were also the market days

were also the fasting days.

And so the religious elite

who had nothing else to do

but parade around

their self-righteousness

would actually disfigure themselves.

They would put on makeup.

They would look poor and pitiful

and put on quite a show

that others would see

how pious they were

in front of others.

It was quite a production.

And I wonder today

if there's anybody amongst us

who puts on a show

and comes together

in the gathering

hoping that others

would see them

and praise them.

Jesus here is dismantling

the false religion

that so easily entangles us.

The desire to be recognized

by man

and to forsake

seeking the pleasure of God.

That he would be pleased with us

and be our rewarder.

Jesus tells us

that when we fast

we should have the outward appearance

of normalcy.

That's what this washing of the face

and anointing the head

was about.

Right?

The oil was typically perfumed

so it made people seem

less smelly

in the day.

So wash your hair

and wash your face

and don't look gloomy

so that your Father

who sees in secret

will reward you.

Now Jesus does not say

if you fast

but rather

when you fast

which would suggest

that fasting

should be

a part of the healthy

Christian life.

Normative.

It should be normative

to the Christian life.

Many faithful men and women

of God in the Bible

fasted.

Moses,

Samson,

Samuel,

Hannah,

David,

Elijah,

Ezra,

Nehemiah,

Esther,

Daniel,

Anna,

John the Baptist

and his disciples,

Jesus,

Paul,

and many others

fasted.

There's an abounding

amount of examples

of this in the Scripture.

Fasting, however,

is only commanded

in the Bible

one time.

And it's commanded

in connection

with the day

of atonement.

And you can read

about that

in Leviticus

Leviticus 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16

and verse 29

and Leviticus

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23

and verse 27.

It's nowhere else

commanded by God

but it is

commended

by God.

All of these

men and women

fasted.

So,

we should view it

as a beneficial

but non-compulsory

act.

a beneficial

but a non-compulsory

act.

And so,

the

encouragement to you

is that you should

consider,

have a clear

understanding

of what fasting is

and employ it

in your Christian

walk.

But it's not a command

to you this morning

and you should

fast.

But I think you

ought to really

consider the benefit

of it.

John Calvin wrote,

many for want

of knowing

its usefulness

undervalue

its necessity

and some reject

it altogether

as superfluous

while on the

other hand

where the proper

use of fasting

is not well

understood

it easily

degenerates

into superstition.

Fasting

is depriving

ourselves

of food.

A lot of people

do a lot of

kind of fasting.

This is not

what the word

means in

the Greek

language.

And I'm not

saying you can't

deny yourself

other things.

There could be

a lot of good

health and

staying off

social media

for a while

as an example.

But when the

scripture talks

about fasting

it's talking

about denying

ourselves

food

for a particular

amount of

time

for a particular

purpose

and it is

always

accompanied

by prayer.

It's always

accompanied

by prayer.

One can

pray without

fasting

but you

cannot

fast

without

praying.

It always

walks

hand in

hand

together

and here

you start

to see

some of

this

chiastic

significance.

Fasting is

to be

accompanied

by

prayer.

And we

have a

number of

examples.

I just

want to

give you

a few

of them.

I don't

believe

this is

exhaustive

but

times that

we see

particular

purposes

of fasting

in the

scripture

during times

of sorrow

David

fasted

to pray

for the

first child

of Bathsheba

which

eventually

died.

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

and verse

16.

He was

grieving

for the

life of

this child.

He pleaded

with God

for the

life of

this child

and he

accompanied

that prayer

with fasting.

During

times of

great

danger

King

Jehoshaphat

which we

want to

talk about

just because

it's fun

to say

Jehoshaphat

proclaimed a

national fast

in Judah

when they

were threatened

to be

attacked

in 2

2 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

Chronicles

chapter 20

and verse

3.

We see

fasting in

the Bible

during times

of repentance

when the

Ninevites

heard the

preaching

of Jonah

the king

of Nineveh

decreed a

fast

this Jonah

Jonah 3:5

chapter 3

verse 5

and

following.

And during

the need

for

clarity

we see

fasting

the beginning

of ministry

and the

continuation

of ministry

we're

familiar

with Jesus

fasting

for 40

days

and 40

nights

before

beginning

his

ministry

that one's

mine

Jesus

fasted

for 40

days

and 40

nights

before

beginning

his

ministry

before

the church

in Antioch

set Paul

and Barnabas

apart

for a

missionary

trip

they were

doing

what?

They were

praying

and fasting

in Acts

Acts 13:2

chapter 13

verse 2

and 3

and then

they commissioned

Paul and

Barnabas

to go

as missionaries

to the

Gentiles

and as

Paul and

Barnabas

are going

about this

work

it's recorded

that they

are praying

and fasting

as they

appoint elders

in the

churches

that they

found

Acts

Acts 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14

and verse

23

and so

fasting

can be

very

helpful

to remind

us

of our

great

need

of God

right

as you

feel the

hunger

in your

belly

you say

who is it

that sustains

me

even as

I'm hungry

it is my

father who

is in

heaven

who gives

good gifts

to his

children

and I

ought to

flee to

him

in prayer

so I

very rarely

like to

use myself

as the

model

and I

think that

I can

grow in

how much

and how

well

I fast

but I

set aside

periodic

times for

fasting

when there

are big

decisions

that need

to be

made

there's

something

looming

on the

horizon

we're

doing

planning

Doug and

I

right now

for next

year for

the church

and I've

already

taken some

time

a day

of not

eating

and devoted

prayer for

that purpose

Lord help

me to

see

it drives

me to

my knees

right as

I feel

this lack

of sustenance

to go to

the sustainer

right and

to aim my

praying at

something very

particular

most every

Sunday morning

I fast

it's the rare

Sunday morning

that I'll go

I'm just too

hungry I

gotta go into

the service

without

but often

my fast

is broken

right from

the night

before when

we have the

Lord's Supper

together in our

Lord's Supper

gathering

before

and it

helps me

it sets

my mind

moving in

the right

direction

right

I need

right physical

food to fill

me up

I need

God's

spirit

more than

that

for this

day

right and

then sometime

after you guys

I'll leave at

1.30 or 2

I go

I need lunch

absolutely

starving

right

but I do

these things

I purpose

these things

to help

bring my

focus

to big

matters

that definitely

need God's

sustaining

work

so

the connection

to this prayer

of our daily bread

depriving ourselves

of daily bread

serves as a reminder

from whom our

daily bread

comes from

and therefore

how dependent

we are

upon our

heavenly father

for all

things

right

isn't that cool

that chiastic

structure

there

so pray like

Jesus

give us

this day

our daily

bread

and I'll

add to that

and fast

from time

to time

to help

you pray

in this way

secondly

pray like

Jesus

forgive us

our debts

pray like

Jesus

forgive us

our debts

this is

verse 12

and then

verse 14

and 15

verse 12

says

and forgive us

our debts

as we also

have forgiven

our debtors

and then

verse 14

and 15

elaborates

on this

for if you

forgive

others

their trespasses

your heavenly

father will

also forgive

you

but if you

do not

forgive others

their trespasses

neither will

your heavenly

father forgive

your

trespasses

so

this is a

difficult

text

because taken

on its

surface

it would

seem that

Jesus

is here

teaching

that our

forgiveness

is dependent

upon our

willingness

to forgive

others

that we

must first

forgive

and then

God will

extend

forgiveness

to us

right

this

would

seem

to present

a works

based

version

of

salvation

that

our

salvation

is dependent

upon our

willingness

to forgive

others

is this what

Jesus is teaching

here

no

oh may it

never be

that that's

what he

is teaching

here

what he's

rather teaching

in interesting

language

is that

if we

are

forgiven

we

will

be

forgiving

and we

must

look

at

larger

context

to wrap

our brains

around that

here

so turn

with me

if you

will

to

Matthew

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter

18

and

verse

21

the parable

of the

ungracious

servant

beginning

verse 21

and following

then Peter

came up

and said

to him

Lord

how often

will my

brother

sin against

me

and I

forgive

him

as many

as seven

times

Jesus

said to

him

I do

not say

to you

seven

times

but

seventy

seven

times

so he's

essentially

saying

an infinite

amount

of times

you will

forgive

your

brother

therefore

he launches

in this

parable

the kingdom

of heaven

may be

compared

to a

king

who wished

to settle

accounts

with his

servants

when he

began to

settle

one was

brought

to him

who owed

him

ten

thousand

talents

and ten

thousand

talents

would have

been an

unpayable

debt

this would

have been

lifetime

upon lifetime

upon lifetime

of income

that's meant

to jump

out

to the

listeners

of Jesus

parable

talents

what is a

talent

we don't

get that

billions

and billions

and billions

of dollars

you need

to understand

this is

unpayable

debt

in verse

25

and since

he could

not pay

he would

not be

able to

pay

his master

ordered him

to be

sold

with his

wife and

children

all that

he had

and payment

to be

made

so the

servant

fell on

his knees

imploring

him

have

patience

with me

and I

will

pay

you

everything

and out

of pity

for him

the master

of that

servant

released him

and forgave

him

the debt

but when

that same

servant

went out

he found

one of his

fellow servants

who owed

him a

hundred

denarii

and seizing

him he

began to

choke him

saying

pay what

you owe

now a hundred

denarii was

also a lot

of money

this would

have been

a denarii

was a day's

wage

this would

have been

a month's

worth

income

still a lot

of money

so his

fellow servant

fell down

and pleaded

with him

have patience

with me

and I

will

pay you

he refused

and went

out and put

him in prison

until he

should pay

the debt

when his

fellow servant

saw what

had taken

place

they were

greatly

distressed

and they

went and

reported to

their master

all that

had taken

place

then his

master

summoned him

and said

to him

you wicked

servant

I

forgave

you

all

that

debt

because

you

pleaded

with me

and should

not

you

have

had

mercy

on

your

fellow

servant

as I

had

mercy

on you

and in

anger

his master

delivered him

to the

jailers

until he

should pay

all his

debt

so also

my heavenly

father

will do

to every

one of

you

if you

do

not

forgive

your

brother

from

your

heart

so

the grace

that we

have

received

should

it

necessarily

makes

us

gracious

having

been

saved

by the

grace

of

God

and

been

given

his

spirit

he

works

in

us

mercy

grace

the

mercy

of

God

toward

us

should

find

us

humble

and

forgiving

our

willingness

to

forgive

others

evidences

the

forgiveness

that we

have

received

Paul

writes

in

Ephesians

Ephesians 4:32

chapter

4

verse

32

be

kind

to

one

another

tender

hearted

forgiving

one

another

as

God

in

Christ

forgave

you

becomes

the

necessary

thing

that we

do

because

of the

great

forgiveness

that we

have

received

we

need

God's

forgiveness

and his

continued

grace

to be

forgiving

so we

should

pray

in this

way

I

also

think

that we

should

be

careful

in the

way we

approach

God

in our

prayers

we

should

be

careful

in the

way

that we

approach

God

in our

praying

as we

come to

him

to make

confession

too often

we come

to him

and we

haven't

gone and

forgiven

others

we

come to

him

entirely

unmerciful

asking

for

continued

mercy

ignoring

the fact

that he's

been so

gracious to

us

in

Christ

and

not

turning

that

out

in

graciousness

towards

others

we

come

to

him

pleading

more

grace

on

our

behalf

don't

forget

just a

chapter

ago

in

Matthew

Matthew 5:23

chapter

5

verse

23

and

24

Jesus

said

so if

you

were

offering

your

gift

at

the

altar

and

there

remember

that

your

brother

has

something

against

you

leave

your

gift

there

before

the

altar

and

go

first

be

reconciled

to

your

brother

and

then

come

and

offer

your

gift

so I

think

we

should

be

careful

about

the

way

that

we

come

and

ask

for

the

continuing

forgiveness

the

day

in

the

day

out

confession

of

our

sin

that

we're

careful

that

we're

not

harboring

bitterness

towards

others

as

we

do

that

very

thing

so

we

should

pray

like

Jesus

forgive

us

our

debts

deliver

us

from

evil

verse

13

says

and

lead

us

not

into

temptation

but

deliver

us

from

evil

Jesus

tells

Peter

in

Matthew

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

chapter

26

and

verse

41

and

remember

this is

in the

garden

garden

of

Gethsemane

and

not

too

many

hours

before

this

at

the

last

supper

!

Peter

has

proclaimed

under

his own

power

that

he

would

never

deny

Jesus

right

self

sufficient

I

would

never

do

this

thing

and

then

Jesus

finds

him

sleeping

in

the

garden

and

he

says

watch

and

pray

that

you

may

not

enter

into

temptation

the

spirit

indeed

is

willing

but

the

flesh

is

weak

Sin

is

prowling

around

every

corner

and

we

should

not

think

too

much

of

ourselves

that

we

won't

fall

victim

to

the

very

most

egregious

of

sins

it

is

but

for

the

grace

of

God

that

we

are

not

the

absolute

continually

worst

of

sinners

and so

we need

to pray

that God

would

lead us

away

from

evil

and

toward

good

Jesus

prays this

for us

in what's

called

the high

priesthood

prayer

in John

John 17:15

chapter

17

verse

15

where he

says

I do

not

ask

that you

take

them

out

of

the

world

but

that

you

keep

them

from

the evil

one

we

would

be

a

people

growing

in

holiness

for

the

praise

of

our

God

and

our

heavenly

father

is

pleased

to

do

this

he

seeks

the

good

of

his

people

for

the

glory

of

his

name

!

Paul

writes

in

1

1 Corinthians 10:13

Corinthians

chapter

10

verse

13

no

temptation

has

overtaken

you

that

is

not

common

to

man

right

you

do

not

ever

find

yourself

in

the

middle

of

a

temptation

that

no

one

else

has

ever

experienced

there's

never

a

unique

temptation

to

you

right

you

have

no

excuse

to

say

well

yeah

God's

been

gracious

in

other

circumstances

but

he

doesn't

understand

this

circumstance

it's

common

we

are

all

experiencing

temptation

right

common

to

man

but

13

goes

on

God

is

faithful

God

is

faithful

despite

our

unfaithfulness

despite

how often

we are

given

to

temptation

and

give

in

to

temptation

God

is

faithful

and

he

will

not

let

you

be

tempted

beyond

your

ability

his

working

in

you

ability

but

with

the

temptation

he

will

also

provide

the

way

of

escape

that

you

may

be

able

to

endure

it

and

so

Paul

tells

us

that

we

can