Tempted for Our Sakes

in Jesus' inauguration of ministry on earth.

As he begins, Matthew records his birth, his heritage,

and it goes on to his baptism,

which was the first thing he did in his public ministry.

And the second thing he did was his fasting and temptation.

If you remember Matthew chapter 3,

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

we have Jesus recorded being baptized by John the Baptist,

and he says this kind of mysterious thing.

When John asks and objects to baptizing Jesus,

Jesus responds to him that this is done to fulfill all righteousness.

And there's some mystery in those words,

but part of what Jesus' meaning there

was that he had to be baptized as our representative,

as the first fruits of the Christian church.

He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.

And then we have Jesus following his baptism to the wilderness,

to the wilderness and temptation.

And we can also say that Jesus suffered temptation.

He went into the wilderness, the place of testing,

to fulfill all righteousness.

He did that for our sakes, like the Catechism teaches us.

Jesus not only died for our sakes, he lived for our sakes,

and he suffered temptation all for our sake.

So when you ask the question, which is a natural one to ask,

why did Jesus have to be tempted?

The scripture here gives us an answer,

that Jesus was tempted to redeem Israel's failure

when Israel was tested in the wilderness,

that he might come through untouched by temptation.

To be our savior, Jesus had to succeed where Israel had failed.

And that's what's recorded in Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And I'm going to read verses 1 through 11.

If you follow along in your Bibles, I'll read it from the ESV,

which is the translation that's in your worship guides.

Starting in verse 1, this is the word of the Lord.

Verse 5.

Jesus said to him,

And again, it is written,

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

And again the devil took him to a very high mountain

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

And he said to him,

All of these I give to you,

if you will fall down and worship me.

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.

Then the devil left him,

and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading

and the careful hearing of his word.

So as we begin,

in verse 1,

this episode of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness,

the passage starts with this.

Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness

to be tempted by the devil.

And the key words there,

by the Spirit into the wilderness,

tell us what is happening.

The wilderness in biblical language had a symbol to it.

It recalled what Israel endured

after their redemption from Egypt.

And the wilderness was a place of testing.

The wilderness in biblical imagery is a place of testing.

And that's what's happening to Jesus.

He's enduring testing to prove his obedience

in the way that Israel was tested in the wilderness.

And it's where Israel failed in the wilderness.

If you remember the story of,

we'll call it the second most spectacular redemption in history,

which is the redemption of Egypt

or the redemption of Israel from slavery.

And you remember from the story of Exodus,

the ten plagues that culminated

in the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt,

which caused Pharaoh to finally let the Israelites go.

All the people witnessed that,

the death of the firstborn sons

and the Israelites themselves being protected

from that curse.

Then as they left

and the Israelites were followed by Pharaoh's armies,

the Lord parted the Red Sea before them,

showing by a magnificent hand and an outstretched arm,

the scripture says,

how he would deliver them.

And then after the Red Sea,

they journeyed in the wilderness,

guided by a pillar of cloud by night,

by day and a pillar of fire by night.

While they journeyed,

their clothes didn't fade,

their shoes didn't wear out.

When they were hungry,

God gave them bread from heaven to eat.

When they were thirsty,

he gave them water out of a dry rock.

God gave Israel every gift and grace imaginable

to sustain them

through their period of testing in the wilderness.

And what did they do?

How did Israel respond

when they were tested in the wilderness,

though God sustained them with his gifts?

Israel responded by testing God,

by rejecting God,

by forgetting him.

After all these things were witnessed by the Israelites

and the Lord led them to Mount Sinai,

they started to worship idols.

They had forgotten God already.

Because the Israelites,

the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

share the same nature that we do,

the nature that accepts gifts,

that enjoys gifts,

but spurns and forgets the giver.

That's our nature.

That's what failed in the wilderness.

Because we have a nature like the Israelites,

where we will accept gifts,

but we will spurn the giver.

There's something we could call,

that I've coined,

the Christmas afternoon syndrome.

Parents have seen it.

Kids, you probably remember it.

You especially remember the anticipation

of Christmas morning.

Months, maybe you're already thinking

about your list right now.

Months before Christmas,

you're preparing your list,

and the anticipation builds to that morning

when you receive your gifts,

and you open them,

and it's just what you wanted, hopefully.

And you're grateful,

and you're happy,

and you hug your parents,

and you thank them.

And then something happens.

Hours later,

Christmas afternoon strikes.

And kids, if you don't remember saying this,

your parents might.

What do you do, kids,

when Christmas afternoon comes around?

Some of you might have said something like this

at least one year.

You say,

I'm bored.

So what happened?

What happened between Christmas morning

and Christmas afternoon?

That joy and that celebration

turned to boredom and frustration.

Maybe your parents at that signal said,

well, it's time to write thank you cards.

It's time to write thank you cards

to your relatives,

and to you that was just insult to injury.

Oh, I've got to write thank you cards now,

and it just made it worse, right?

Well, what was happening?

What was happening to that joy that you had

as you received your gifts,

but then you're forced to remember the giver?

You had to write thank you cards

because your parents are trying to teach you

about thankfulness,

and they're trying to give you the lessons

that only come with time

where when a person is thankful

and you grow in maturity,

you enjoy the gifts that remind you of the giver.

You enjoy little knickknacks

that kids find boring

because they remind you of the person

that gave them to you.

That comes with maturity.

Israel was not mature.

Israel was like you kids sometimes

on Christmas afternoon.

When you want the gifts,

but you would rather not remember the giver.

That's our nature.

That's what failed in the wilderness.

That's what Jesus came to redeem,

to recapitulate,

and that's my theology word for today.

That's the only theology word

we'll have to remember,

a recapitulation,

which means to come under another head.

Before we go into that,

we're going to talk about

what the Lord says

about Israel's testing in the wilderness

that he explains from Joshua 5.

This is Joshua 5, verse 6,

Joshua 5:6

where the Lord describes

the response of the people of Israel.

For the people of Israel

walked 40 years in the wilderness

until all the nation,

the men of war who came out of Egypt,

perished because they did not obey

the voice of the Lord.

The Lord swore to them

that he would not let them see the land

that the Lord had sworn to their fathers

to give to us,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

Because of the Israelites' failure

to remember God,

they didn't enter the promised land.

The consequences were severe.

Even though they enjoyed the gifts,

they loved them for their own sake.

And they received condemnation

for failing the test in the wilderness.

And we share that condemnation

when we are in Israel,

when we share the nature of Adam.

So again, you ask,

why did Jesus have to enter the wilderness?

Why did he have to be tempted?

The answer is in that theological word,

recapitulation.

And it just, it's easy to define.

It comes from a Latin word

that we know well,

from a capital, right?

A capital is the head.

So your capital city

is the capital of a state.

When you're in battle,

if the capital falls,

the nation falls.

The capital is a representation of the whole.

So recapitulation means

to put under a new head,

to recapital.

What Jesus did in entering the wilderness

was recapitulate

the wandering of Israel,

the testing of Israel.

Where Israel failed,

under their head, Adam,

Jesus would restore.

He would redeem

because He would become the new head.

He would do the same thing

that Israel did.

He was tested in the wilderness,

but He would be shown approved.

He would recapitulate.

We see it when we look through Isaiah.

Some of you remember a few years ago

when we studied Isaiah in Sunday school.

When you look at starting in Isaiah 42 and 43,

when the word describes the servant of the Lord,

there are these places

where Isaiah describes the servant of the Lord

and it's clearly Israel.

And then He changes voice

where that servant of the Lord

is this Holy One who is to come,

this Holy One who they're anticipating.

And you see it especially in Isaiah chapter 50.

Isaiah 50 · chapter mention

So if you want to follow me there

in Isaiah chapter 50,

Isaiah 50 · chapter mention

I'll read verse 1

and then we'll continue on a little bit

in that chapter.

Verse 1 in Isaiah 50 starts,

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold

and for your transgressions

your mother was sent away.

So there's the servant of the Lord, Israel,

who is rebellious.

Who is sold for their transgressions.

But it continues in verse 5

where the Lord God has opened my ear

and I was not rebellious.

I turned not backward.

I gave my back to those who strike

and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.

I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

So here the servant of the Lord is not Israel

but the one who is to come.

The same servant recapitulated,

the one who would not turn back,

the one who is not rebellious.

And it reflects what we're taught in the catechism.

That what did Christ do

to be humiliated in this life?

It was conflicting with the indignities of the world.

That those who struck his cheeks

and pulled out his beard

and he hid not his face from disgrace and spitting,

the indignities of the world he suffered.

And he also suffered temptation

as the servant that Isaiah spoke about.

So Christ recapitulated the temptation

in the wilderness for us.

Why?

Because of what Paul says in Romans 8, 4.

In order that the righteous requirement of the law

might be fulfilled in us

for us who now walk according to the spirit

and not according to the flesh.

Christ went into the wilderness,

the place of testing,

to redeem the failure of our nature,

the nature that we inherited with Adam.

So let's go on to verse 2.

Verse 2 begins to describe the conditions

that were set in Jesus' temptation.

It says,

after fasting 40 days and 40 nights,

he was hungry.

Now there's probably not many of us,

if any of us,

who have endured a 40-day fast.

A 40-day fast is humanly possible,

but it brings you basically

to the brink of physical starvation.

That's where Jesus was.

The limit of human weakness.

There isn't much longer you can go

without food and water after 40 days.

Jesus was at the limit of his human weakness.

And in the limit of that weakness,

he remained obedient.

That's what made it a test.

That's what made this temptation a testing.

And the word that you have translated

in your Bibles that's maybe translated temptation,

it also has the sense of testing.

And that's an important sense

because that's really what's happening here

in this passage.

Jesus himself not being tempted,

Jesus was being tested

to be proven as the one who would obey,

who would obey in the wilderness.

It's because Jesus was not tempted

in the same way that we are,

namely tempted with sin,

that he can be our savior.

So that's important.

Though Satan brought temptation,

Jesus himself was not tempted

because he has no sinful desires.

If you want proof of that,

you look at James chapter one.

James chapter one in verse 13

says,

let no one say when he is tempted,

I am being tempted by God.

For why?

For God cannot be tempted with evil.

Remember Jesus being fully man and fully God

cannot be tempted by evil.

Jesus was never tempted

by what Satan offered him.

And James continues,

and God himself tempts no one,

but each person is tempted

when he is lured and enticed

by his own desire.

Jesus was not lured and enticed

by sinful desire.

Jesus' desires were the desires

we had in the flesh.

Jesus was hungry.

He desired food.

That was the temptation

that Satan offered.

But Satan offered it

in a way that would not glorify God,

in a way that Jesus would violate

his covenant with his father.

And that was no temptation

for the Holy One of God.

The Catechism reading,

when it answers,

how did Christ humble himself

in his life,

says it was by conflicting

with the indignities of this world

and the temptations of Satan.

He conflicted with it.

He was not vulnerable to it.

Christ proved his righteous life

by conflicting with temptations,

by conflicting with indignities,

not being vulnerable to them,

having no sinful desire.

What Matthew's showing us here

in verse two,

this is the bottom line.

He's showing us how Jesus

underwent temptation

at the very limit

of human weakness.

He was as weak

as any human could be,

yet he still trusted God.

The first temptation starts

in verse three.

If you'll read with me

in Matthew chapter four,

verse three and four,

the tempter came and said to him,

if you are the son of God,

command these stones

to become loaves of bread.

But he answered him,

it is written,

man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word

that comes from the mouth of God.

So in the first temptation,

Satan suggests to Jesus

that he should break his fast.

Simple as that.

Just break your fast.

Use your power

to break your fast.

So what's wrong with that?

After all,

if you look at the gospel of John,

chapter five,

Jesus would use divine power

to provide bread,

to provide bread for his followers.

It wasn't against Jesus' conscience

to use divine power

in order to save people,

in order to provide for them.

And why not himself also?

So he would eventually

break his fast anyway.

Why not now?

Why not at Satan's suggestion?

But here, though,

Jesus is in the wilderness

to do what?

To prove his humility,

to be humbled,

to prove that his humble trust

in his Father

is greater than the greatest desire

one can have,

to avoid death by starvation.

Jesus is in the wilderness

to prove his humble trust

in his Father.

This is how Adam and Eve fell.

Remember, Adam and Eve

weren't hungry

when they ate the forbidden fruit.

They weren't at the limit

of human weakness.

Adam and Eve fell in this way

because they believed God

was holding something good

back from them.

They believed this fruit,

as Satan suggested,

was a good thing for them

and God didn't want them

to have it.

That God was holding

something good

back from them.

They didn't trust God.

Jesus,

even at the limit

of weakness,

trusted God.

It's the same thing

with Israel.

Israel,

though they were in the desert,

they were in the wilderness,

they were provided for by God

with food,

with water.

But they grumbled.

They grumbled against him

because they didn't trust him.

Even as they had

the quail and the manna

that God fed them with,

they forgot him.

And they said,

after their stomachs

were empty again,

they said,

Moses,

you brought us out here

in the middle of the desert

to die.

It would be better

to go back into slavery.

They had forgotten

the grace

that they were given.

They had forgotten

the giver

who had the power

to continue to feed them,

to continue to supply them.

So Jesus' reply

to Satan's suggestion

comes from Deuteronomy 8.3.

The previous verse

that Jesus quoted

starts,

And he humbled you,

and he let you hunger,

and he fed you with manna,

which you did not know,

nor did your fathers know,

that he might make you know

that man does not live

by bread alone,

but man lives

by every word

that comes from

the mouth of the Lord.

The Lord let Jesus,

as he let Israel,

hunger.

Why?

So that he could teach them

that they can still

depend on him.

They can depend on him

and their weakness.

So what the Israelites

did not learn,

Jesus knew.

The humility.

He knew the humility

that teaches you

that hunger

or no hunger,

the Lord will sustain him.

Jesus wasn't tempted

by Satan

because he trusted

his father's purpose

for his suffering.

In this case,

he trusted his father's purpose

even in his desperate hunger.

humility and obedience

before temptation.

That was Jesus' response.

And it was rewarded

if you look forward

to verse 11

when God sent his angels

to minister to him.

It's a reasonable inference

to say,

how did the angels minister?

Well, they ministered with food.

They broke his fast.

God had in mind

all the time

to provide for Jesus,

to break his fast,

to relieve his suffering.

But God did it.

And Jesus waited

for God to do it.

So for Christians

who have said,

it's hard to trust God

to provide

when you have a need

that you don't see him supplying.

It is a hard question.

It's a natural question

because it is hard

to trust God to provide

when you don't see him supplying.

Christians should look

no further than this episode

because the father

had it in mind

to provide for Jesus

when he was at his limit.

You haven't reached your limit.

There isn't a point

where Jesus,

your Lord,

will let you go beyond

your human limits

before he provides for you.

Humble trust in the father

suggests

that we can trust him

even when we are weak,

even when we don't see

his provision.

And Jesus didn't.

Jesus was there

without food,

without water,

yet trusting in his father.

Even in your most desperate need,

the scripture says,

you do not live

by bread alone,

but by every word

that proceeds

from the mouth of God.

And that's not just poetry.

That's the promise

that God will provide.

That's the promise

that God will provide

when you're hungry,

when you're thirsty,

when you're desperate

because he knows your limits.

He knows your limits

better than you do.

So the first temptation,

the first temptation,

we could say,

Satan tempts Jesus

with the desire of the flesh.

If you go to the second temptation,

you could say,

Satan tempts Jesus

with the desire of his spirit,

with his very trust in God.

Satan wonders,

could even his trust in God

be exploited

if he trusts him so much

that he would ignore his hunger.

So that's what continues

in verse five.

Then the devil took him

to the holy city

and set him on the pinnacle

of the temple

and he 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.

Jesus said to him,

again, it is written,

you shall not put the Lord,

your God to the test.

So Satan tempts Jesus

not just with the desires

of the flesh

but with the desires

of his own spirit

that trusted God

and he uses scripture

and it's important to note

that Satan isn't taking

scripture out of context here.

He's using Psalm 91.

This was not out of context.

This was a real promise

to Christ,

namely that God

would protect him.

God would not allow

his holy one's foot

to strike a stone.

In context,

it begins in verse nine

from Psalm 91.

Because you have made

the Lord your dwelling place,

the Most High

who is my refuge,

no evil shall be allowed

to befall you

or no plague

come near your tent.

For he will command

his angels concerning you

to guard you

in all your ways.

On their hands

they will bear you up

lest you strike your foot

against a stone.

So Satan quotes

the scripture rightly.

He doesn't always do that

but in this case he does.

He quoted it rightly.

It was not out of context.

That promise was

first and foremost

for Christ.

God's holy one.

But again,

humble obedience

to the Father says

Jesus did not put

his Father to the test.

So what is then

the right way

to respond

when Satan tempts you

with the very word of God?

With your very trust in God?

There are two ways.

There's the way

that Jesus responded

with humility.

There's an alternate way.

And you could call it

the Christian bookstore response.

And as I say it,

some of you know

what I'm talking about.

The Christian bookstore response

where you go into

a Christian bookstore

and if you haven't been

on your guard

as you walk into

the Christian bookstore,

I will suggest to you

you need to be more discerning

than when you walk

into a secular bookstore

when you look

at the books on the shelves

in your Christian bookstore

because in the secular bookstore

they're not promising you

to enrich your faith,

to claim the promises of God.

The Christian bookstore is.

So you have to be careful.

You have to be wary

what you select

because there are publishers

who have made a lot of money

in recent decades

on Psalm 91.

On Psalm 91

because they claim

that you,

to receive God's blessing,

have to show boldness of faith.

Your faith has to be bold

so that you can receive

God's blessing.

The Christian bookstore response

says you will trample

on the line and the adder

as the psalm promises

if you just have bold faith.

It's a health and wealth message

that says if you step out

in boldness,

if you make the leap,

God will move your mountain.

He will surely protect you.

Not that there isn't a place

for boldness

in the Christian life.

There is.

But that's not what

the Lord prizes

and that's not what Jesus does

as he follows his Father.

It isn't boldness

for boldness' sake.

It's patience

and humble obedience.

The error that the health

and wealth message

that you'll find

in the Christian bookstore makes

is that it puts your acts of faith

as the condition,

the first condition

for God to be faithful to you.

It puts your acts of faith

as the condition

for God to be faithful to you.

The Christian bookstore response

when it quotes Psalm 91

says,

do you want to receive

God's blessing?

If you were at the pinnacle

of the temple

and Satan tempts you,

do you want to receive

God's blessing?

Jump.

That's exactly not

what Jesus does,

is it?

He doesn't jump.

He doesn't make

a bold declaration

of his faith

in order to receive

God's protection.

Jesus' response

is from Deuteronomy 6,

Deuteronomy 6:16

verse 16.

You shall not put

the Lord your God

to the test.

God didn't require

of Jesus

spectacular demonstrations

of faith

in order to be approved

by him,

in order to pass the test.

And God doesn't require

of you

spectacular demonstrations

of faith

to receive his blessing,

to be approved by him.

You're not saved

by the strength

of your belief.

You're saved

by the strength

of God's faithfulness.

His faithfulness,

his strength,

is what sustains you.

You just need

to be humble

and patiently

await

for his power

to be made known in you.

There is a place

for boldness

with discernment,

but patience

and obedience

that lets God

provide

is prized higher.

That's what passed

the test

for Jesus.

Patience

and humble obedience

that trusts

in God's providence.

Jesus didn't ask God

to prove himself

faithful to him.

Jesus just trusted him.

The third temptation

then starts

in verse 8

where Satan

gaining nothing

so far,

gaining nothing

as he tries

to tempt Jesus

with the desires

of the flesh

and then he tries

to test Jesus

with even his trust

in God.

Satan doubles down

now.

He's not being subtle.

He's now just

demanding worship.

Verse 8 he begins,

Again,

the devil took him

to a very high mountain

and showed him

all the kingdoms

of the world

in their glory.

And he said to him,

All these I will give you

if you will fall down

and worship me.

All the kingdoms

of the world

is what Satan promises.

And if you look

at what Jesus did,

what he came to do

on earth,

Jesus came for all

the kingdoms of the world.

Jesus came for that

very thing,

to gather from all

the nations his elect

from every kingdom

on earth.

Jesus wanted

all the kingdoms

of the world.

Satan was offering

it to him.

And Satan's offer

was in all vain.

The scripture even

tells us in Ephesians 2

that Satan does have

these kingdoms

in a sense.

He is the prince

over the power

of the air.

That's what Ephesians

2 says.

Not that Satan owns

them in an ultimate sense,

but Satan's power

is over them.

Satan had that power

to hand over

to Jesus

the kingdoms

of the world

by passing the cross.

So was Jesus

vulnerable to this?

Did Jesus want

all the kingdoms

of the world?

Yes.

Was he tempted

to worship Satan

in order to achieve it?

No.

Not if he was

the one who was

very God,

the Son of God,

the perfect holy God

and perfect righteous man.

This was not

a temptation for Christ.

That is why

he's our Savior

because he is faithful

and he's holy.

He has the power

of God

that sustains

human nature

when it's tempted.

Jesus' response

starts in verse 10.

Then, Jesus said to him,

Be gone, Satan,

for it is written,

You shall worship

the Lord your God

and him only

you shall serve.

Then, verse 11,

the devil left him

and behold,

angels came

and were ministering

to him.

So in this last

couplet of verses,

Matthew,

the author of Scripture

here,

shows us kind of

the twist in the plot.

At the words,

Be gone,

what happens?

Satan just leaves.

At the words,

Be gone,

he's gone.

So what does it tell you

when you see

the end of the story

and it becomes apparent

that Christ had the power

to dismiss Satan

at any point,

any point in his temptation?

Christ had sovereign control

over Satan

the whole time.

I think it was R.C. Sproul

who said,

Satan is God's Satan.

Satan is never

out of control.

Satan is always

within the domain

and the command

of God

because God

is sovereign

over everything.

And Christ himself

as the Son of God

was sovereign

over Satan

the whole time.

All of these temptations

then,

Christ endured

willingly

and Christ endured

purposefully.

This was not a threat

that Satan brought

to Jesus unawares.

This was what Jesus did,

being led by the Spirit

in order to be tested.

Not that he would be tempted,

but that he would be proven,

proven righteous.

They were not threats

to his holiness.

Satan,

in his devices,

in his temptations,

Satan as always

was aiding God's purpose

as he acted.

Because these temptations

were God's very purpose

to vindicate his Son.

And because

the temptation

in the wilderness

was a recapitulation

of Israel's failure,

this proof of obedience

was Jesus' very opportunity

to prove your faithfulness,

to enable your faithfulness,

to vindicate you

as the one

who would be in Christ,

who would stand

under Christ

as your head.

It was the opportunity

for the Lord

to vindicate his Son

and for Christ

to vindicate us

from the accusations

of the devil.

And his victory

over temptation

did something else.

Because the Son of God

was tempted

in his utter weakness

in his most desperate state,

God has sympathy

with your every weakness.

This is what we read earlier

with our catechism,

Hebrews chapter 4,

Hebrews 4:15–16

verses 15 to 16.

The word says,

For we do not have

a high priest

who is unable

to sympathize

with our weaknesses,

but one who in every respect

has been tempted

as we are,

yet without sin.

Let us then

with confidence

draw near

to the throne of grace,

that we may receive mercy

and find grace

in time of need.

Jesus took the experience

of the temptation

in the wilderness,

and when he died

and when he ascended,

he carried it up with him.

Where?

To the right hand of God,

to the Father,

where he intercedes for you.

He became your advocate,

your intercessor,

as he is at the right hand

of the Father

interceding for you.

The hymn

that we'll sing later

puts it this way.

When we sing

before the throne

of God above,

the second verse says,

When Satan tempts me

to despair

and tells me

of the guilt within,

upward I look

and see him there

who made an end

to all my sin.

That's where we look

when we're tempted.

That's where the Christian

finds support

when he is tempted

because we have

not just the Holy Spirit,

but we have Christ himself

pleading with us

before the Father,

Christ who sympathizes

with our weaknesses.

And you,

who are left

with your mortal bodies

here on earth,

are weak in the face of sin

because your heart

remains with you.

Jesus had no sinful desire,

but that doesn't mean

he didn't know weakness.

He knew weakness,

and he knew it

better than you do.

And furthermore,

he knows you.

He knows what you go through.

He knows how you're tempted

because he was tempted himself.

He knows your weaknesses,

and he sympathizes with them

because weakness was his also.

He knows weakness

better than you do.

He was at his very limit

when he trusted

his Father to provide.

And God will not allow you

beyond your limits

because he has in mind

to provide.

He has in mind

to sustain his saints

with his Spirit,

with all the physical needs

that you require,

and with the spiritual needs

that he supplies daily

with the Holy Spirit.

The sympathy of your Lord

comes about

because he endured

every weakness of yours

and more,

yet was without sin.

We call this divine sympathy,

the sympathy that resides

at the right hand of God.

And this sympathy isn't the,

oh, I feel so sorry for you,

sympathy.

That's not what

the author of Hebrews means

when it talks about sympathy.

It means sympathy

that has power for you,

sympathy that intercedes for you

because in heaven

you have Christ interceding for you

before the Father.

On earth you have

the Holy Spirit interceding for you

in your heart,

offering up prayers

that are worthy to God,

prayers that will be answered.

And it's for that reason

that you can have confidence

to receive God's help

in your time of need

because now

you can pray in Jesus' name.

And when you pray

in Jesus' name,

it's not required

that you have the words

to explain

what it is

that you're going through,

the temptation

that you're suffering,

the needs that you have.

You don't have to have

the words to explain it

because he knows,

because he sympathizes,

because he has the words

that can be expressed

with groanings

too deep for words

what it is

that you need.

And he brings it

before the Father

where his prayers

are always answered.

He knows

there will be occasions

when you give in

to temptation

where Christ didn't,

but at the same time,

Christ and the Father

do not look upon you

as one who fell

into temptation.

The Father looks upon you

as the one

who endured temptation

as Christ did

because you're in Christ.

because Christ is your head

and he was victorious

over temptation.

No fall of yours

into temptation

can change the Father's

attitude toward you

because as Romans told us,

the righteous requirement

of the law

has been fulfilled.

There's nothing else

that remains to be fulfilled.

Because of Christ,

the Father looks upon you

always as he does Christ

as one who will endure

to the end.

Thanks be to God.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you

for the word

you spoke to us today.

We thank you

for the assurance

that though we suffer temptation

and fall into temptation

that your son

suffered everything

yet was without sin

so that we

can have confidence

through him

to come before you

to receive grace

in our time of need.

May this knowledge

make us that much more eager

to repent

knowing our sympathetic

advocate before you.

We praise you

for the power you showed

in weakness

that as it proved Christ

as the perfect Savior,

it will also make us

perfect as well.

We give you thanks

in Christ's name.

Amen.