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NewCity Orlando Sermons
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NewCity Orlando Sermons
Vision Series | Imagine People Who Have a Way
Pastor of Formation & Mission Benjamin Kandt concludes our Vision series on the Lord's Prayer and its transformative power in shaping our spiritual journey. Pastor Ben differentiates between character-building trials and temptations that derail us. The petition "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" serves as our anchor, guiding reflection on liberation from sin's presence and power.
He then unpacks the meaning behind "lead us not into temptation," emphasizing that following Jesus is more about our direction than achieving perfection. By drawing on the wisdom of Psalm 23, he turns our attention to trusting Jesus' leadership amid life's darkest moments. He further clarifies the distinction between God's testing and Satan's tempting before encouraging us to seek maturity in our faith. Ultimately, we understand that being led by Jesus sometimes means venturing into uncomfortable territories but it always is aimed at our spiritual growth and freedom from sin's grip.
Concluding with a triumphant message, Pastor Ben turns to Hebrews 4 and the cosmic victory of Jesus over evil, reflecting on how Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and enters into our temptations to redeem us. The concept of Christus Victor reveals our liberation from the fear of death and sin. The significance of the word "amen" is a powerful affirmation of God's promises and how Jesus fulfills our spiritual vision. Seeing the Father answer the Lord's prayer is our vision and living in this prayer offers a transformative guide for our community at NewCity.
Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damien. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:We're continuing on in our sermon series on our vision here at New City, which is to see our Father answer the Lord's prayer, and so we finish the sermon series today. And the more I talk now, the less it counts against my sermon time, so that's why you're hearing me elaborate some things. In this moment we pray a prayer of illumination together, because we're asking God's Spirit to shine His light on His Word and illuminate our hearts as we hear the Word read and preached. And so if you would join me with these words in a prayer of illumination, almighty God, by your Holy Spirit, teach us your ways and lead us in your truth, for you are the God of our salvation. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
Speaker 1:Our scripture reading this morning comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six, verses nine through 13. Normally we read this as a scripture reading, but I wanna read it today as a prayer together. So I'm gonna invite you to join with me. I'll say the first part and we'll all pray the Lord's Prayer together. 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. Amen, this is God's word. Thanks be to God you may be seated.
Speaker 1:I want to tell you about two types of tests. The first type, I think, is exemplified in something called a Misogi. Okay, so there's a sports scientist named Dr Marcus Elliott who works with some of the world's most elite athletes, and he kind of pioneered and popularized this idea of a Misogi. Now, a Misogi is basically, it's a personal challenge that only has two rules. Here they are. The first rule it must be so hard that, given your best effort, it still has a 50% failure rate. The second rule you can't die. So I tried a Misogi and I failed. It was so hard that I didn't even get to the point of scheduling it, but I was going to ride my bike from the East Coast to the Gulf coast in a day with a group of friends. But just to show you Misogi's are really challenging.
Speaker 1:Marcus Elliott does actually has tried and succeeded at one, and this is an example. He carried an 85 pound rock three miles underwater along the coast of Santa Barbara Island. So this is what he did. He had a team, I think, of about five or six guys, and one guy would dive down about seven to 10 feet down, pick up this 85-pound boulder, cradle it and run with it about 10 to 15 yards underwater, drop it, swim to the surface and the next guy would come down and do the same thing, rinse and repeat for five hours until they get three miles underwater carrying an 85-pound rock. Why would anyone do this? That's probably the question. That's the right question, right? Well, marcus Eliot believes that modern humans have an unmet need to do what is truly difficult.
Speaker 1:This is the way he describes it. He brings his arms out in a big circle like this. He says if this is the circle of your potential, okay, right, here's the circle of your potential. Many of us live within about this big of a circle of our realized potential, and the reason why is because we live our lives and remain untested. That's the first kind of test.
Speaker 1:The second kind of test there's a great example of it in Terrence Malick's movie called To the Wonder, which is a brilliant movie about the differences between passionate, romantic love and covenant, faithful love. It's about this couple named Neil and Marina who fall in love in Paris, right, one of the most romantic places on earth. And they fall in this passionate romance, but then they move back to Oklahoma, where Neil's from, and things get really hard when they actually get back into real life, until, around this time, marina's friend comes from Paris and tries to convince her that she should leave her new husband. This is the way she says it. Quote leave while you can.
Speaker 1:Now that you're young and beautiful, your whole life is in front of you. Live and do what you like. Life's a dream. In a dream, you can't make mistakes. In a dream, you can be whatever you want, anything. Leave this place. It's cramped, small. There's nothing here. You're a dreamer. You need to fly. You should be free. Listen to your heart. You're free. You and me, we're gypsies. You're, like me, a gypsy. In my own experiment, I want to break these chains and be free.
Speaker 1:That's the second kind of test. To make it plain, the difference between these two types of tests is that one draws good out of us, the other draws us into evil. One explores our strengths, the other exploits our weaknesses. One we would call a trial, the other one we would call a temptation. And so, when we get to pray this last petition in the Lord's Prayer, lead us not into testing, trials, temptations. The Greek word Greek has one word for what we have, three words for. All of those would be legitimate translations. Lead us not into that, but deliver us from evil.
Speaker 1:And so, as we look at this final petition together and we finish out our series, unpacking our vision, which is to see our Father answer the Lord's prayer, where we've been over the last three weeks up until today, is we've seen that the Lord's prayer depicts a people that, if you imagine it, you can imagine a people who have a father, imagining a people who have a future, a people who have enough. And today we're going to look at what would it look like to be a people who have a way, who have a way Now, typically, because this is a vision series, we'll talk about how we call, form and send disciple makers through congregations, communities and circles, with the common rhythm and all of these aspects of what it means to be in the life woven into the life of New City. And today, really, what I want to do is I want to get beneath all of those things and talk about how do we go about those things. Another way to put that is we have a value around here, which is that we want to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. Now, when I say the Lord's work, don't just think church stuff. Think all of the places where God has called you, formed you and sent you into the 95% of your life where you're not doing church-based activities. That's what I mean by the Lord's work in and through you. We want to go about that in the Lord's way. Now.
Speaker 1:I get that phrase from a very well-known sermon preached by Francis Schaeffer in the 1970s, and he called the sermon the Lord's work in the Lord's way. This sermon has really centered itself in my philosophy of life and ministry, and so you've heard me quote this quote before, but I want to set this forward and then unpack the text together. This is what Francis Schaeffer says the central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism. By that what he means is people who don't take the Bible seriously. The Bible no longer has the role of authority in their religion. So the central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus which surrounds us. Now, if I were to update that a little bit, I would probably add postmodernism and consumerism and expressive individualism and the far left on the political spectrum, the far right on the political spectrum, all of those things, those he goes on to say, all these are dangerous, but not the primary threat.
Speaker 1:The real problem is this the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually so that's you all or corporately, that's us, new City tending to do the Lord's work in the power of the flesh rather than of the spirit. Now, you might not believe that I do. I think you'd do well to believe that the biggest threat to New City, the central problem of our age, is all of us doing the Lord's work in the power of the flesh, using our own techniques and skills and abilities, and accomplishing what we can do alone rather than depending on the Spirit and seeing what God alone can do. So this is an invitation so that we do everything at New City, all of the Lord's work in the Lord's way. In order to see what that actually looks like, I want to unpack Matthew, chapter 6, verses 13, verse 13 together. So if you have a Bible or a device, go ahead and get Matthew 6 in front of you. We want to see how does God lead us away from this central threat? What does it look like to trust God to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way?
Speaker 1:First things first. The first part of this petition is and lead us not into temptation. That's verse 13. Lead us not into temptation. Now, my point doesn't have it, but the Bible has it. There's a conjunction here. This begins with and lead us not into temptation. And this matters because what it means is a conjunction. It's conjoining it to the petition right before it that we talked about last week, which is forgive us our debts, dot, dot, dot and lead us not into temptation. Okay, those go together.
Speaker 1:Why does that matter so much? Because everyone wants forgiveness. Who doesn't want forgiveness? Everyone wants forgiveness, but not because they hate their sins, but because they hate the consequences of their sin. You see, christians are unique in that we want forgiveness and in that we don't just want freedom from the penalty of our sins, but the presence and power of our sins. We actually hate the sins themselves, not just the penalty, not just what we deserve. And so when we pray forgive us our debts, we're also praying and lead us not into temptation, deal with the past, but also protect us in the present and the future from falling into more sin, because we love Jesus and we see what it cost him to deal with our sin. The text goes on if you look closely at the verb here, and lead us, lead us. This is significant. We go forgive us. That's freedom from the past, from our past problems, but then we go lead us into a good future. Would you do that? That's what we're asking God to do At New City.
Speaker 1:We often use this phrase follow me, as I follow Jesus in all of life, and it's a phrase that kind of encapsulates a lot of what we want for you all as disciple makers. We want you to be the kind of people who can say I follow Jesus in all of life. Now, there's areas where I fumble and stumble and fall, of course, but generally you can follow me and learn from me, even learning from my repentance where I fail. We want a congregation full of people who can truly bring all of life under the leadership of Jesus. That's what maturity looks like. But don't mishear me Following Jesus is not about perfection, but it's about direction. It's saying Jesus is going that way. I'm going to get in behind him and go where he goes, because we find Jesus so compelling at New City. We're the kind of people we're wanting to become, the kind of people who can say where you go, I go. Where you stay, I stay. Your people are my people, your God is my God. Get behind Jesus and go where he goes. That's what we want to be. We want to be that kind of people, and this really is a really simple way to define Christian maturity.
Speaker 1:Now, you see, in the world, maturity is often about learning to become more self-sufficient, more independent, be able to take all the initiative in your life, those kind of things. Henry Nouwen says that Jesus has a different vision of maturity. For him, it's the willingness to be led where you'd rather not go. You see, maturity is not about the strength of the will, but the submission of your will to a greater will, to somebody who has a higher will than yours, which is the source of trust in any leaders that you have, anybody who has authority. If you know that they're under authority, you can actually trust them with that authority.
Speaker 1:And so think about the famous, maybe the most famous psalm, some of the most famous scripture in all the Bible, psalm 23,. Maybe the most famous psalm, some of the most famous scripture in all the Bible, psalm 23, which I this week prayed over. One person going in to have brain cancer surgery and another person dying of dementia in one week, and this section of that text really strikes me. The end of verse three says that Jesus, the good shepherd, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake, and all of us who want leadership in our life say yes and amen. But the very next line where does he lead you? Tell me about those paths of righteousness.
Speaker 1:David, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death Question mark I will fear no evil. Do you hear the language? Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lead us, jesus. We trust your leadership. You're worth it. And when you lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, deliver us from evil when we're there.
Speaker 1:To use the language of the Psalms, this is essentially saying some version of lead me so that I can walk in a wide place. That's language the Psalms use. But if that pathway becomes treacherous, don't let my foot slip and stumble into sin. That's essentially what this petition is about. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. You see, god is willing to test us. Satan is the one who tempts us. That's important to make that distinction. God tests us to try us. Satan tests us to trap us. God tests us to bring good out of us. Satan tempts us to bring us into evil.
Speaker 1:One commentator with the really cool last name called Youngblood. I'm sensitive to those things. My last name's Kant name called Youngblood. I'm sensitive to those things. My last name's Kant it's one of my tests that the Lord has to lead me through. Youngblood says it like this Satan tempts us to destroy us, but God tests us to strengthen us. And so we pray lead us not into temptation, but if we find ourselves in that season of testing, deliver us from evil. Use that season of testing to deliver us from evil.
Speaker 1:Now the whole Bible, beginning with the serpent in the garden all the way to the dragon in Revelation it could be summarized as a book of temptations. On and on and on, and I wish I had time to walk through the storyline of Scripture and unpack how significant the role of testing and trial and temptation, how important that is, through the storyline of Scripture. But we don't have that time, so we're just going to flip a page back, maybe two pages in your Bible, to Matthew, chapter 4. Very famous passage. Look at Matthew, chapter 4, verse 1. This is right after the baptism of Jesus. The father speaks over him. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. And then Matthew, chapter 4, verse 1, says this then Jesus listen to the language was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Speaker 1:You hear the familiar language Jesus was led by whom? The Spirit? Where? Into the wilderness. Why? To be tempted by whom?
Speaker 1:The devil also called the tempter in the next verse, or Satan in verse 10. You see we've got to ask the question what is going on here? How do we make sense of this? Well, if you know that text Matthew 4, you can read it later. There's really three temptations. The first one is the tempter. The devil is tempting Jesus. He says essentially use your power to turn these stones into bread. Jesus was fasting, he was very hungry. Second temptation is show your glory by jumping off the temple and having angels catch you before you fall to your own death.
Speaker 1:The third temptation is some version of you can have all of these kingdoms if you'll just worship me. You hear the language there. You can have the kingdom, the power and the glory if you will just bypass, if you will just avoid entering into the shame and the weakness and the defeat. Another way to say that is Jesus, you can have it all. In your own terms. You can have the crown without the cross. You can have the glory without the gro. You can have the glory without the groaning. You can have the victory without the surrender. You can have the resurrection without the crucifixion.
Speaker 1:This is the temptation of the evil one in Matthew 4. It's the temptation Jesus faces throughout the entirety of his life and I want to submit. The temptation you all face on a daily basis. You see, what Oswald Chambers says is temptation is a suggested shortcut to the realization of the highest at which I aim. A temptation is simply if the life of Jesus was life, death and resurrection. Temptation is simply the. What if you just skip the dip? What if you just do a dotted line across the top. You don't need the death part, burial spitting in your face, beard torn out you don't need that, do you Jesus? Instead, this is the serpent speaking.
Speaker 1:Instead, jesus, why not just show people right now that the power and the glory and the kingdom belongs to you? You have that If you really are the son of God. You have that already. Why not just be like all the other so-called religious leaders in the world who show how, through heroic willpower and efforts, they're able to conquer, and then they call all of their disciples to be like me rather than to trust in me, jesus, show people the way, don't be the way. Be an example, not a savior. People don't need a savior, they need an example, jesus. But Jesus was so committed. He was so committed to not triumphing in strength but entering into the weakness that the father had for him, because he was going to do the father's work in the father's way. And so he rebuked Satan get behind me, be gone. Satan actually is what he says. And then he quotes scripture a good way to handle satanic temptations in your own life.
Speaker 1:Now, if you don't believe me, fast forward a few chapters to Matthew 16. You can flip there if you want, but I'm going to summarize the story. Fast forward a few chapters to Matthew 16. You can flip there if you want, but I'm going to summarize the story. Matthew 16 is famous.
Speaker 1:Jesus just makes Peter the first pope, or so people would say. And right after that Jesus tells his disciples hey, listen, gang, I know I'm the king of the kingdom of God and you know that. But listen, the way I'm gonna get enthroned is by being rejected, accused, suffered death, burial all of that's in the future for me. And Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him. He's like hey, jesus, like that's not gonna be a good PR campaign. To which, do you hear? The devil's temptation is Listen to Peter's language. Far be it from you, lord. This shall never happen to you. But Jesus turned and said to Peter get behind me, satan, it's a bad day. It's a bad day for Peter.
Speaker 1:It says this you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. You hear this? These are the tectonic plates upon which the Christian life is built the things of God, the things of man. Setting your mind on things that are above or things that are on earth. Walking by the flesh, having confidence in the flesh, or walking by the spirit. These are the basics of the Christian life. They permeate throughout everything that we do. That's why I said we want to imagine being a people who have a way, a way of living that doesn't have confidence in the flesh. That's what God's trying to set us free from, and he does that in our lives the same way he did that in Jesus's life, which is by leading us into the wilderness. He leads us into the wilderness. So when we pray, lead us, not into temptation.
Speaker 1:We recognize, with Dallas Willard, that the general form of temptation is this I must act on my own or else I'll miss something good. That's what temptation looks like. I got to act on my own the flesh or I'm going to miss something good, not realizing that God might have better for you. On the backside of death, it's called resurrection, and so what this shows up like, what does this look like in everyday life, at work? It's almost that temptation to a little compromise in order to exaggerate my performance. Or maybe I speak up for myself in order to get the credit that I really deserve. Nobody really knows or cares that I'm doing it, but it's a suggested shortcut to your aim. Or maybe at home? You know, I get home, I've had a long day, I'm exhausted, my spouse will pick up the slack, and video games is just how I unwind.
Speaker 1:Some of you are like dude, you're meddling. Now. That's where temptation shows up. That's where it shows up. Did God really say don't sleep with each other until you're married? That's not. I mean, how else am I supposed to figure out if we're compatible for each other? I don't want to get married and then find out later that we actually don't fit together. Well, like this wouldn't be a good idea, would it?
Speaker 1:You see, these are the temptations, and some of you are in wilderness seasons, and the reason is because God is trying to lead you into a place where you because in the wilderness you can see Satan for who he really is. It's in the wilderness where the flesh no longer works anymore the way that it did when you were not in the wilderness. In the wilderness, the world wanes in its appeal, and so some of you are in a wilderness season. You're feeling the uprootedness of life because you just made a transition, maybe a new job or relationship or a city or something like that. Some of you are in a season of prolonged waiting and you know that waiting it feels like doing wall sits in basketball practice, where your legs are trembling as you're trying to endure. Waiting's not sentimental, it's awful.
Speaker 1:Some of you are in that wilderness season. Some of you are in a crisis season. There's been a loss or an illness or a moral failure. Some of you are in what was talked about so eloquently up here by David and Bethany, that prolonged loneliness, and you know the feeling of showing up, going home again by yourself for the thousandth time, and you're over it. Up, going home again by yourself for the thousandth time, and you're over it.
Speaker 1:Others of you are in a season where you're disrupted and you're doubting, and you've got questions about your faith that you never thought you'd be asking and you're wrestling with. Is God good? Is he near? Is he real? You're in a season of spiritual dryness and emptiness and exhaustion. Listen, this is so important. The wilderness is not a result of a failed outcome. It's part of the process. God is leading you. He's actually with you.
Speaker 1:The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil. He does that in his life. He does that to you. There's a principle in the way we read the Bible, which is what happens to Jesus happens to all who are in Jesus. The pattern of his life becomes the pattern of our lives. If the way for Jesus to get exaltation was through humiliation, you better believe it is. For you and for me. The pattern of the Christian life is not up and to the right. The pattern of the Christian life is shaped more like a J. You're not failing.
Speaker 1:If you're in a wilderness season, you're being tested. God is trying to bring you into a place where you are set free from confidence in the flesh, you see, because the devil uses the world to bait the flesh. And so if you can relinquish confidence in the flesh, you can be free. You can be free from levels of temptation that you experience now. But God has his means and it's walking you through the wilderness. And so we pray, God, would you lead us not into temptation? But if we're in that season of testing Jesus, would you show us the invitation to fellowship, intimacy, nearness, what the Bible calls koinonia in Philippians 3.10, koinonia with you in your sufferings, jesus?
Speaker 1:Martin Luther said one time the way to become a true theologian, there's three things you ready. First, two are obvious. The third one's not Oratio, meditatio, tentatio, prayer, meditation on scripture, and temptation or trial or suffering. You wanna be deepened, you wanna to be formed, you want to have the roots of the gospel go so deep in your life. Pray, meditate on the Bible and endure suffering, walk through wilderness seasons. That's how we become who God is making us. But here's the thing it's always a temptation to think that our biggest problem in the wilderness is our pain and not our sin. Always a temptation. And so that's why Jesus teaches us to pray, not just lead us, not into temptation, but also deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil. If you've got a little footnote in your Bible, it might put down and say, hey, this could be evil or the evil one. Some translations will go that way.
Speaker 1:Evil takes three forms in the Bible. Here's the three forms. The first one is there's evil outside us, what's called affliction or suffering or the day of trouble. That's the first type of evil. So we pray. Deliver us from that kind of evil, that's for sure. The second one is evil that's inside of us. We call this corruption or indwelling sin. It's a result of our fallenness. And then the third type of evil, the third form evil takes in the Bible is called the evil one, a real personal being who is intent on destroying you and defaming God, and he'll use the evil around you, outside you, and the evil within you, inside you, in order to do that. There's your three forms of evil Evil outside us, inside us and the evil one. And so when we pray, deliver us. It's deliver us from all three.
Speaker 1:Now, throughout the story of Scripture, there's really two signature moves that God has as he shows up to deliver his people. Rarely he will do this, which is he shows up and airlifts his people out of evil. Rarely, sometimes he does it. Sometimes he does it more often. The way God delivers us from evil is he parachutes in and enters into the evil and suffering and pain with us. That's oftentimes the case, and so that's exactly what we see in the incarnation, when Jesus takes on our form in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. He enters into the evil in order to deliver us from the evil. Let's look at how he does that in three ways.
Speaker 1:Jesus delivers us from the evil outside us Trouble, adversity, suffering. This is really important. This is a distinctly Christian view of history the most horrible, awful, heinous, evil event in the history of humanity was the crucifixion of the Son of God. Everything pales in comparison, nothing comes even close. And yet the greatest event in the history of humanity was the crucifixion of the Son of God, by which God reconciled all things to himself. And so why does that matter? Because as we deal with the evil around us trouble, adversity, suffering we look to the cross of Christ and we see that it's there that Jesus, the greater Joseph, can say in the language of his great, great, great, great great grandfather. He can say quote you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about the salvation of many people. Genesis 50, 20.
Speaker 1:This is why the apostle Paul prays like this he delivered us from such a deadly peril and will deliver us on him. We have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You can set your hope on Jesus that he will deliver you, because he's taken evil on in its most radical form and he's defeated it by dying and rising, by not skipping the dip, by not being tempted to take the shortcut to his highest aim, which was to deliver you from the evil around you. The second is we need Jesus to deliver us from the evil inside of us, what the Bible calls corruption, or indwelling sin, our fallenness. You see, evil is not just out there but in here, and so that creates two problems the first is our guilt and the second is our corruption.
Speaker 1:There's a well-known hymn called the Rock of Ages and it says it like this Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath that's the guilt of our evil, and make me pure. That's the corruption of our evil. Now, why does this matter? Well, we don't like the word wrath. It doesn't sit well with modern ears. That's a modern Western issue, by the way, people who've suffered like, say, in the Middle East, they need a God who avenges okay, it's something that's only invented in the suburbs that we wouldn't like the wrath of God, or at least want God to judge evil.
Speaker 1:This is the way that John Stott defines the wrath of God. He says the wrath of God is his steady, unrelenting, uncompromising antagonism towards evil in all of its forms and manifestations. That's the wrath of God. You want a God who hates evil. Imagine a God who compromises with evil. Imagine a God who's indifferent towards evil, or even worse, indifferent towards evil, depending on some partiality, towards whomever the people who do the evil might be. No, you want a God who has a steady, unrelenting, uncompromising antagonism towards evil in all of its forms and manifestations. But what if that evil is inside you? Now, what do you do? What hope for people like you and me is there?
Speaker 1:Jesus himself puts it like this in one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Bible, where he says if you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? What a beautiful passage. But don't miss the punch in the nose at the beginning. If you, then, who are evil, know how to be good parents, think about how, jv, you must be compared to the fatherliness of God in the varsity level. And so what do we do with the evil within us?
Speaker 1:Well, jesus is gonna be of sin, a double cure. He saves us from the penalty of our evil by drinking the cup of God's wrath down to its dregs. He sets us free from the penalty that our evil deserves. But not only that. Hebrews 4 says it like this, 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. So not only does he deliver us from the wrath of God, but he's a double cure he actually makes us pure. He delivers us from the power and, eventually, the presence of sin. And this is how he does it, by entering into the temptations that you and I know People might question. If Jesus is sinless, which he is, it says here in the text that in every respect he's been tempted, as we are yet without sin. That's essential to maintain Jesus was sinless.
Speaker 1:Does he really get what it's like to struggle with temptation, like you, like me? Especially, when temptation feels so intense, it feels painful to say no, almost like cutting off and plucking out. Does Jesus know what that's like? Does he know what it's like for you? Well, cs Lewis takes this on. He says only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is, and if you give in to temptation, you have no idea how strong it really is. He gives three pictures. He says if you're a man walking against the wind, that's how you know how strong the wind is. The only way to find out the strength of the German army is by resisting the German army he's writing this during World War II. You find out the strength of a river only by swimming upstream. Jesus never laid down, he never gave up, he never waved the white flag of surrender to evil in any way, shape or form. And because of this, because Jesus never yielded to temptation, he is the only man who knows what the full pressure, the full court press of temptation really feels like. And how does he wield that knowledge?
Speaker 1:Hebrews 4 says to sympathize with you and your weakness. He doesn't say get on my level, what's wrong with you? No, he says I know what it's like. I know what it's like to be you. I feel that pressure to be you. I feel that pressure, I feel that pain. I feel what it that it almost feels like you have to gouge out a member of your body in order to resist this temptation. Right now I know what it's like and I'm with you in this.
Speaker 1:He's got what John Calvin called fellow feeling with us in our temptations, because he uses that knowledge to sympathize with us in our weakness. And that is how he can deliver us from the temptations towards evil, the power of sin in our life. He enters into the temptations with us, he identifies with us in our temptations. Third and finally, jesus delivers us from the evil one, a real, personal being called Satan, the serpent, the tempter, the devil, the dragon all kinds of names in scripture. You see, jesus' death is cosmic in scope. It's not just to rescue you from earth to get you into heaven. That's not biblical.
Speaker 1:Jesus' death is to rescue all of creation, as the hymn, the Christmas hymn, puts it. His death is meant to go as far as the curse is found. It's cosmic in scope. But the only way to deal with that was to deal with the devil who has the power of death. How does Jesus do that? He conquers the powers, the dark powers that work in our world, that enslave the people of God. Jesus did that in his cross. The cross is his victory over evil, personal and impersonal, whether they be spiritual beings or political powers. The cross of Christ conquers those things. Jesus put death to death in the death of Christ, so he could set you free, so he could liberate us, so that we don't have to fear the evil one having the power of death and sin over us anymore. We're liberated. Christians have called this Christus victor, the victory of Christ over evil. We look to Jesus for all of these things so that we can now say for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Speaker 1:I want to end this sermon where we end this prayer and where we end every prayer with this word amen. It's a Hebrew word. Transliterated into English that basically just means yeah, I'm about that. It's when you bring yourself into agreement, into alignment with what's been prayed. When Jesus in the gospel says, truly, truly, I say to you what that word is is amen, amen. I say to you it's agreement, it's true, it's yes to this. Well, in 2 Corinthians 19, paul says it like this In Jesus, it is always yes, for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. In other words, jesus is our amen.
Speaker 1:If we go back to the top of this prayer, our Father in heaven, jesus purchased everything for us in the Lord's Prayer. Our vision is already accomplished. It just isn't fully realized yet. Could you imagine leading a business or an organization where you're like 100% guaranteed, our vision will be accomplished no matter what? And it's not even our job to get that across the finish line. That'd be kind of sweet. Welcome to New City.
Speaker 1:Our vision is the Lord's Prayer. Jesus already purchased it. We're just waiting for it to be realized and working with him to see it realized, you see, because Jesus gives us his access to the Father. That's why we can say our Father, jesus is changing our hearts in order to care about how it would be your name, that his name being revered and seen as holy is the passion of our lives. Jesus has given us a future, a kingdom, a kingdom where the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, sinners are forgiven and the outcasts have a seat at the table. You see, jesus has shown us that it's God's will which is best, even when it's hardest.
Speaker 1:Jesus is heaven on earth. The vertical beam of his cross is the hyperlink between heaven and earth, between God and man. Jesus is our daily bread. He nourishes us with himself in the wilderness. Jesus forgives us our debts and teaches us to forgive our debtors. He's a good leader, worthy of our total trust, and he will lead us through testing all the way home. And that's why we can confidently say no longer mine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, but thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen, let's pray. Yes, father, we bring our amen in agreement with this prayer that your son, our Lord Jesus, taught us to pray. Yes, may it be. Use us in whatever way you need. We give our wills to your will to see this prayer realized in New City and through New City for this city. It's in Jesus' beautiful name we pray, amen.