Expect Jesus To Defend You

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A sermon by Adam Barcott

March 10 2019

All right. Good morning. Glad you are here. Welcome to the first Sunday in lent. I didn’t know it was gonna be daylight savings, but there’s no excuse to miss now. Thanks to technology. Glad you’re here. Let me pray and we’ll begin. Dear heavenly father. We thank you for your grace towards us and we begin this time together recognizing that you have called us out. Called us out from among our own people, from among our own comforts to come to worship you. This is what you’ve always done. And so we have gathered because you have called us and began to work in us and recreate us. And the first thing you do is give us new hearts and a faith that believes in Jesus Christ. So we gather today around your word around your son, Jesus Christ. And we offer ourselves to you and, expect to receive your love and your grace. And for that we worship. It’s in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s begin with the a confession and absolution. It’s on page d. And again, this is an opportunity for us to just begin in the posture, of historic Christianity, which is Lord, I’m not perfect. So stand with me as we read together the prayer of confession if you can. We come before God; saying most Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against thee in thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Almighty God in His mercy has given his son to die for you. And it’s for his sake. He forgives all your sins in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.

Before we sing, I wanted to, read Psalm 91. Just listen. He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my god in whom I trust for he will deliver you from the snare of the Fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield. And a buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night nor the Arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noon day.

1,000 may fall at your side 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the most high. Who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to befall you. 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. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent, you will trample underfoot because he holds fast to me in love. I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation says the Lord.

We’ll read our passage for today from the book of Luke Chapter Four verses one through 13 and it’s on page 501 you might want to follow along just because it’s really important. It’s the words of Jesus. Sometimes reading them, sometimes just hearing them is really the Holy Spirit uses that. Definitely. Sometimes it’s good to read it too for him to imprint it into your hearts and minds.

Luke chapter four; and

Luke 4:1-13Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil and he ate nothing during those days and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread, and Jesus answered him. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, to you, I will give all this authority and their glory for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will be all yours. And Jesus answered, it is written. You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here for it is written. He will command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. Jesus answered him and said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And when the devil had ended, every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

The Story is to be continued. Satan is not going to just leave. He’ll be looking for another opportunity. So that is the temptation. Temptation of Christ.

It’s the first Sunday in lent. Lent is the time of preparation leading up to Easter historically and again, it’s not a mandated thing. God doesn’t say you must partake of lent. It’s just a really cool thing to partake in. Why wouldn’t you? It enhances our celebration of Christ and so because of that for the next five weeks the series we’re going to be in is called what to expect when expecting. There’s enough babies being born around here that surely they used that book and the reason this comes to mind is because on Wednesday we put ashes on our forehead and the sign of Christ, the sign of the cross and those ashes are to say you came from dust and to dust, you will return because the reality of our world is death. That’s the reality. Everybody’s operating under death. In fact, if you believe the creative narrative, the creation narrative that says we’ve evolved from something and we’ll just end up nothing. It’s still your, even under evolution, you are dust and you will return to dust and maybe you help further everything by your death, good luck. So that’s pretty hopeful. So we enter into a season where we recognize we are dust.

It doesn’t matter what you do, you’re going to die. It’s hard. And so then we just spend our lives trying to avoid that, trying to distract ourselves, trying to get out of it and make sense of it the best we can and we distract ourselves. We don’t really do a great job until Jesus interrupts this story of dust and he says, you are dust, but I have overcome death so that in my kingdom the end is not death. Death. Actually there’s something beyond death, life and that’s the thing you all, even in your death you sensed that you long for that. You try to tell yourself and everyone around, you, no this is life giving. I’m serving and I’m helping. I’m saving the planet by recycling. Yes, it’s very important. But come on, really you’re saving the planet by thowing that away in that garbage can.

Do you even know where it goes after it? Don’t ask because I want him to think that I’m doing something good. Sorry, that was just an extra rent. Still recycled please, because God redeems it. But we don’t. We’re headed, where are we headed? That’s what Lent says. Where are you going? What are you doing? What’s the world? Where’s the world heading? This is good. No, this is good. That’s bad. This is good. This is bad. That’s why we have news everyday to tell us what’s good. Where are we going? We’re going, oh, we’re against this. We’re for this. It’s nonstop. But Jesus interrupts and says, I know I have something better than death. I have life. And so then we are the people who come under that and he says, you know where you’re headed. You know where I’m leading you. What you do does matter because I’ve created you special in my image.

And so you can recycle and love somebody and it looks like nothing. But I make it something great because I’m renewing the world. I have life for you. So that’s why we’re able to walk into these things. And that’s the people you are. We received the recognition. I’m ashes, I’m nothing. I’m gonna die. But the sign of the cross says he’s defeated death. So the season we’re in now is we’re expecting a new creation. We’re expecting to be born again one day, physically, all that we’ve desired will come to pass because of Christ. That’s what we’re expecting, right? So it’s like someone’s pregnant and we’re expecting a baby can’t wait for that baby to be born. So the question of lent then is if we’re expecting all this, what do I expect right now? So I’m expecting all that to be made new, but what to expect during lent before Easter, before the resurrection of Christ, before the resurrection of all things. And this is where it gets to the hard reality. Here’s what you can expect. You can expect your identity to be hacked. I’ve known people who’ve had their identity stolen. It’s a mess because it’s confusing and it’s a lot of work to Redo. Your identity will be attacked. You think you’re a person of life, you’ll be lied about.

You’ll be actually accused of things you are guilty of. Shame will pile up on you. You’ll be targeted by people you don’t know, and you’ll be rejected and abandoned by people who you do know. This is what to expect until Christ’s fixes everything excited. This is what to expect. This is what Jesus said. You’re blessed when you’re persecuted. How am I blessed when I’m persecuted? Because you’re just like the prophets and you’re just like me. The world hates the message of life over death. They hate the message that it comes through somebody else with authority. So this is what you and I are to expect. Just in a little way. We’re giving up food, we’re giving up comforts. And so you expect to feel that hunger, right? So during lent, we’ve written up on the board over there and the bathroom door, we expect to exchange things.

I like to think of fasting as exchanging. You’re exchanging comfort or entertainment and instead you’re going to God and receiving his story and you’re being brought into his story. You’re exchanging food and you’re feeling hungry, but you’re in the presence of God who feeds you spiritually. There’s an exchange. And so as we wait and expect to for it all to be made perfect. We realize this life is full of exchanges and we’re going to feel that. But how do we navigate it? And that’s what today is. Jesus temptation. I really like this because, um, I think this should unlock some things for you this should be good news. How do you make the temptation of Christ? Good News.

I’ll show you first of all, right before Jesus goes into the wilderness, do you know what two things happened? It’s really interesting. In Luke, he has baptism. So at Jesus’ baptism, remember why Jesus gets baptized? Because baptism is where God marks his people, sets them apart for a whole new mission to save the world. Jesus is marked set apart and in fact, the Holy Spirit comes down as a dove authenticating his, authority. He’s anointed. He’s marked by the Holy Spirit. The Sky opens up and God says, this is my son with whom I’m well pleased. The Prophet John Is there. People witness it. Jesus is the son of God. He’s baptized and sent on his way. Then Luke, includes a little section there that none of you know is there. You know why? Because it’s a genealogy and when you and I see a genealogy in the Bible, we instantly go, not for me.

That’s okay. I do too. But this time it is for us. He puts a genealogy right in there for a reason. And in Luke’s genealogy it goes from Jesus all the way down to Adam, the son of God. So Luke’s goes all the way to Adam, the son of God. And the genealogy is important because it’s identifying who he is, his DNA line, his actual line of inheritance. He is all the way connected to Adam, to the son of God. Just the same way we get excited about seeing our DNA families. Have you seen those like 23 and me and there’s different things. My sister in law gave us the results of hers and it’s exciting to see, Oh, who is she? Where is she from? But at the same time, it’s like she’s 48% Vietnamese and 48% like German Jewish, which is exactly what papa is and Ba (Viatnamese term for grandma) and you’re like, oh, so there’s a really interesting four or yeah, 4% left.

It is, but that’s who you are. So the genealogy is saying, Christ, Jesus Christ is the son of God. His baptism says he is the son of God. Then why the wilderness does that ring a bell for the story? The wilderness is a place of testing. God always brings his people into the wilderness for a place of testing. But think of testing the same way you think of it. Um, at school, why do you get tested in school? You’re being prepared for a future career. You’ve learned some material, let’s make sure you’ve learned it so you can go on and do the job. And so wilderness for God’s people, he always brings his people out to prepare them, to cleanse them, to get away the distractions, teach them what’s going on. They, once they get the test, they move on to save the world. And so Jesus, again, being authenticated as the son of God because God’s always pulls his people out into the wilderness, and so there’s Jesus’ baptism, genealogy in the wilderness. He’s been in the wilderness for 40 days and what does Satan do? What’s the thing that Satan does says? If. Jesus knows who he is, who he he himself is. Satan knows who Jesus is, but what’s his question? If you are the son of God, turn this stone into bread if you are, if you really are the son of God. Isn’t that funny? He’s just been authenticated in three different ways.

There’s no question of his identity, but Satan knows because he’s worked with humans for a very long time, that it’s easy to hack our identities. It’s very easy. In fact, the easiest way to hack based on all my knowledge from watching TV shows, it’s always a human element. You can build all these systems so it’s impenetrable to hack, but you talked to one person and you get information. People are always the weakness, right? Am I right, Jeremy? Good. It’s always people. And so satan knows I can get into your brain by messing with the identity of Jesus. I know who Jesus is, Jesus, knows who he is, but do you know who Jesus is? So if you’re the son of God, why don’t you turn this bread or turn this stone into bread? You’re hungry. Jesus is also hungry. He’s human. He’s 100% human, 100% divine, and Satan’s asking…

Why don’t you prove it? So the temptation here to Jesus is not to something. We get tempted to do something bad. There’s also a temptation away from what is good. So Satan is tempting Jesus away from God to doubt the goodness of God. See, here’s the real, the real temptation and the real sin is to, create doubt in the love, grace and goodness of God toward you. So if he can get you to provide for yourself, I’ll just provide for myself. I’m not going to rely on God. That’s the action of a person who no longer believes that God has for them. Right? When someone gives you their word. I’m going to be there in 10 minutes and in 30 minutes go by, you’re like, they forgot about me. I’m going to Uber. I’m going to get my own ride. I’m not doing this.

I can’t wait any longer. I got to take care of myself. That’s the temptation. Jesus withstands it by saying, man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus says, I don’t need to provide for myself. I am a child of God. He provides for us and he historically has provided in the wilderness, manna right, in the tabernacle. The bread of his presence like bread is the presence of God providing for his child. A basic parent provides food for their child. Jesus says, I’m, I’m not going to doubt God being for me. I know he’s for me. In fact, he’s fed me these 40 days. He’s quoting Moses who also sat for 40 days without food and was fed by the very word of God. God speaks and can satisfy your hunger. I’m going to wait on the Lord. I’m not going to rely on myself, which interestingly as we moved towards the cross, as Jesus is on the cross, they always say to him, save yourself if you’re the prophet, if you’re the guy, why don’t you save yourself and Jesus quietly is the word of God. That’s the first temptation. The temptation you and I fail at all the time. I’ll just do it myself. I prayed. God didn’t show up. I’m just doing it myself.

Satan uses it to mess up our identity cause now you start to think, oh, maybe God’s not for me. I’ve done something wrong. Second attack at our identity is where he says to Jesus, I’m going to take you up in a moment, show you all the kingdoms of the world and says, I’ll give this to you.

All the authority and all the glory, essentially saying to Jesus, look, you can have a kingdom of those people, but look at those people. They’re losers. They’re going to turn on you or I can give you a kingdom of glory right now. God has promised to you Jesus a kingdom, but it requires faith and hope and it’s one day, but I’ll give you something right now. You want it, I give it to you, Jesus, so therefore you worship me because I’m the authority and as we list these out, you start to realize if Jesus is truly the son of God, these aren’t really temptations for him. He’s like all the things you have to offer, Satan are from God. In fact, I was there at creation. They’re not yours. They’re yours limited right now and no, I will not worship you as the author of these good things.

I will not worship you. I only worship the Lord God who is the actual creator who can give me things eternally. I will trust the Lord’s plan. I know it’s, it’s one that’s going to be hard at first, but the glory that comes with the reign that he’s giving me is going to be eternal and limitless in its power and its scope, but the temptation is you can’t really trust God to keep those promises. Take it now. Jesus says, no, I’m going to, I’m going to worship the Lord. In fact, the next one though is even more tricky. Satan goes for the thing. We hold the scriptures reminding us that every heretic has a bible verse.

It should make you laugh a little bit. Every person can use a bible verse and lead you somewhere. I mean, you can be, you can be skeptical of me, but what you’ll find, I’m just trying to be honest to the narrative and put it in its context and to everything we know, but I can take things out of context and manipulate you and that’s what Satan does. Satan says, by the third temptation, he’s like, Oh, you like the scriptures. Cool. I’ll use the scriptures, and he quotes Psalm 91 that says, throw yourself off this ledge. God says, the angels will catch you. It’s right here in your scriptures. Of course, Satan is taking it out of context that the original song does not say, throw yourself off a cliff and the angels will catch you. It says the opposite, that God is your refuge. He’s protecting you. He’s blessing you. In this life he’s with you and Satan tries to flip it because testing God, the sin there, the temptation for us is this is a big one. When we test the Lord, I’ve always wondered about this because you don’t test the Lord your God. What does that mean?

When you test somebody’s, you’re saying, I’m good and I don’t know if you’re good yet, right? I’m going to test you. We’re going to do a background check and then quiz you to make sure I can trust you with this thing. And so when we test God, we are saying, I know I’m good but I don’t know if you’re really good and so I’m just going to test you. I’m going to put this out there and see what you do and then when I think that you’re good enough, then I’ll approve you and that is not the position humans are in. We are not in a position to test God. We don’t know enough. We’re messed up. Yeah, that’s the temptation. And Jesus says, no, I’m not going to put God to the test. In fact, I’m going to take the test. So at the end of this, Jesus has stood up to these temptations and these temptations. We have failed at. And the reason Satan even does these again is because it works with all humanity. Every king of Israel, there were no good kings of Israel. They all wanted power right now. They fell for it.

The people always wanted bread right now they fell for it. We always put God to the test we do ourselves. And so when we look at this passage, there’s a shift in my thinking. Anyway, I used to think, this is how I fight Satan with the word of God, with worshiping him, with not testing him. No. That’s how you lose to Satan.

This is the shift for me. This is what I’m so excited to tell you. It’s going to set you free. This is about Jesus. He is our champion. He stood up against the thing that always works for Satan against people. He stood strong under it. He is your champion and the expectation of your identity being hacked, it will happen, but you don’t fight Satan. That’s not your game. You will lose. He is stronger and wiser and older than you and he’s been messing with people a lot longer than you can imagine, but he cannot stand against Jesus Christ. You see, we start to then the way we battle this temptation when you’re feeling like, I don’t know who I am, and you will feel that because Christ has made you something new and then you act like a person who is against God or doesn’t trust God, why do I act like that?

That’s very confusing and when you try to fight it with your own, that’s your own works righteousness and it won’t. You can’t withstand it, but our new game is we call out to our champion. We say, Jesus, I’m feeling attacked. I don’t know who I am or where I’m going. Jesus help me and he’s like, yeah, I can help you. I’ve defeated Satan before and I was really hungry. I was tired and I knew who I was and here’s what I’m going to do for you. When you call on Jesus, he says, this can only happen because he’s died and risen again. Right? If he’s just a good man. If this is just an example for us, we’re going to fail. It’s not just and example Jesus by his death and resurrection says, now you are incorporated into my baptism. This is why you when you were baptized into the father, son and Holy Spirit, which brings you into the genealogy that after Christ, there’s Adam, there’s Joe, there’s Rebecca, there’s whatever name we need to come up for the Wimberley couple (people in attendance). Your name is now written in that genealogy, in your testing. You call on Christ and he comes and fights for you. It’s just like the movie. Who are you going to call?

Yeah,

Jesus. Satan busters. Because Satan, the name just means slanderer. It means accuser. That’s what the name Satan means, is that he is, an accusing attorney and he’s bringing real accusations against you to God saying Look, they fail in every way. That’s why we don’t fight him. We call out to Jesus. And that’s why there’s a great verse in Romans Chapter 10, where it says all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Okay?

Because faith is calling out and saying, God, I need your righteousness. Jesus helped me. I’ve sinned. We repent. I’ve made, I made a mistake of this. I don’t know who I am or where I’m going help me. And it says all who call out on him are saved. He shows up and he says, you have my righteousness. I defeated those temptations for you. Praise God. And then you rest in it.

Praise God for HIs Son Jesus Christ who comes to earth to save his brothers and sisters from death and defend them from all the attacks of Satan. Expect the love of God, the promises of God and the goodness of God to be challenged and tested, and when they are call out to Jesus and expect Him to defend you and defeat Satan and all his accusations.

Let’s pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ our savior. We give all glory to Christ on the cross and recieve all comfort as his defended and saved people.