[0:00] Let's come to God in prayer together. Let us all pray. You, O Lord, are the God who is love.
[0:14] Not simply are you the God who is loving, or the God who is lovable, or even the God who loves. But you are love. God is love.
[0:27] Your character, your nature, all that you are is love. We thank you that you are so much to us. Thank you that you are righteous and holy and mighty.
[0:41] Thank you that you are powerful and creative. Thank you that you are wise and good. But, Lord, thank you most of all that you are love.
[0:53] And that your love is, as we've sung, boundless. It is a love which knows no measure. You yourself, O Lord our God, are infinite. That means you have no limit.
[1:03] There is no end to you. You are completely and perfectly boundless. And so, therefore, so is your love. O Lord, we live in a world where we see love here and there, where we seek to love.
[1:18] But we must confess that our love is so often selfish or self-centered. So often our love is hidden. So often our love is absent.
[1:29] But we thank you, O Lord, that your love is ever-present. That all your works and all your deeds flow from love. We are those who do not love you as we should.
[1:41] We are those who have lived lives in opposition to that love. How foolish we've been. How foolish to think that somehow we do not need that love.
[1:54] When, Lord, our greatest need is that you should love us. And that we should experience that love. That love, Lord, which we can be certain of.
[2:04] Sometimes people will speak of love and even show love. But it's hard for us to trust. Because we know that we've all been heartbroken. Where those that we've loved have let us down.
[2:18] But, Lord, we thank you that you never will do that. Thank you that your love is certain. Because we have seen the very evidence of your love in Jesus, your Son. As we sang there, the one who went to the cross in our place.
[2:30] The one who suffered and died and took the punishment. We deserve. Lord, there is love truly manifest. There is love for all the world to see.
[2:40] Love which is real and tangible. Love which is proven and tested. Come through even the most severe trial.
[2:53] We thank you that your love for us is a love that today wants to bless us and do us good. Your love is a love that wants us to know your forgiveness. It wants us to know the love of God poured into our hearts by your Holy Spirit.
[3:08] Thank you that it is your great desire that we should know that we are loved of God. And that we, Lord, should know within our hearts that love for you increasing and growing. We pray that may be the case.
[3:21] Cause our love to grow. Cause our love to deepen. Cause our love to increase. For we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's turn together in our Bibles to Luke and chapter 4.
[3:39] That's the Gospel of Luke and chapter 4. And if you've got one of our Red Church Bibles, that's page 1030. Page 1030.
[3:51] We're going to read the first 13 verses of a well-known record of the events in the life of the Lord Jesus.
[4:05] So, page 1030, Luke chapter 4, beginning at verse 1, reading through to verse 13. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.
[4:28] He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.
[4:40] Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone. The devil led him up to a high place, and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
[4:54] He said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor. It has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.
[5:07] Jesus answered, It is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. The devil led him to Jerusalem, and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
[5:21] If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you carefully.
[5:32] They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered, It is said, Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
[5:46] When the devil had finished all his tempting, he left him until an opportune time. So if you would like to have your Bibles open to Luke and chapter 4, and those first 13 verses, we are going to consider these events in the life of our Lord Jesus.
[6:08] We saw last week that his baptism, and that beginning of his ministry, we are told at the age of 30, and then we were given that great list of his ancestors, his forefathers, and we'll touch upon that, and the reasons for that.
[6:24] But we come now to Luke in chapter 4, and in the NIV, if you've got it there, it's got its own title, its own description of that, Jesus is tested in the wilderness.
[6:37] Everything really in the world needs to be tested, or is tested, one way or another. The kettle that you buy, or toaster or hairdryer from the shop, must be pat tested.
[6:50] That's portable appliance testing. Just to make sure it doesn't electrocute you the first time you turn it on. The shampoo, or the soap, or the washing up liquid that you use every day, has to be rigorously tested over several months, and in different ways, to ensure that it doesn't make our hair fall out, or bring us out in blotches.
[7:10] And of course we ourselves, as people, go through tests, whether we're not just those at school, of course, and university, but when we want to be able to drive a car, we have to pass a test, and from time to time, we have to go to the doctor, and have a checkup, and various tests, our blood pressure, and so on, are taken.
[7:31] As sons and daughters of God, we regularly experience the testing of our faith. James, in his letter, writes to the believers, right at the start, and says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith, develops perseverance.
[7:57] In Luke chapter 4, as the NIV rightly tells us, we have the testing of Jesus, testing of the Son of God, in the wilderness. Now, it's important, just first of all, to recognize that this is not the only temptation of Jesus, or the only time he was tempted, or tested.
[8:15] We read right at the end of that passage, verse 13, when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him alone, until an opportune time. So, this wasn't the only time that Jesus knew testing and tempting, it was something that the devil returned to again and again, that opportune time, that time when he thought that he might be able to catch Jesus out.
[8:41] Now, interestingly as well, and that the word tested and tempting come out here, and if you've got an NIV, almost certainly you've got a little footnote, which tells you that the word tempted can also mean testing.
[8:54] They're interchangeable, they're very similar words. Jesus himself, we're told, was tempted in every way, just as we are, Hebrews in chapter 4.
[9:07] And earlier on in Hebrews, that he suffered when he was tempted. Something that wasn't just a one-off experience in his life. And it's not a one-off experience in ours as well.
[9:18] If we are Christians, then we will be tempted, tested in our faith, daily, regularly, often. Now, I said that last week, we looked at this list of names, and we brought out, I hope, some reasons for this biography, as it were, of Jesus, the Son of God.
[9:38] We saw that there was this link between Jesus being called the Son of God by the Father, in verse 22, you are my Son, and the link with the Son of God at the end of the chapter.
[9:51] This circle, we're meant to recognize and realize Jesus' deity there. But also that link that he had with Adam, which showed his full humanity, that he truly was a Son of Man, as well as the Son of God.
[10:06] And then we saw as well, some of the promises that God had given to certain people, David and Abraham and Adam, promises that would only find their fulfillment in the coming of Jesus, all looking forward to him coming into the world.
[10:22] In fact, as we've noticed, I hope, throughout the Gospel of Luke, we've seen from the beginning that Luke is laying out a very careful plan, showing us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of God, that he is the one who's come to bring everything to its culmination.
[10:39] He's the one who God has sent and the one who has come to bring about the salvation of the world. And so everything that we read has a purpose in pointing us to this truth of Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior and the promise keeper.
[10:57] So why do we have this wilderness testing? Why do we have this description, this experience of Jesus recorded here? And of course, as you know, it's in Mark and it's in Matthew as well.
[11:08] Matthew is very similar in the things that he says, though there's a slight change in order of the temptations. Why do we have it? Well, we can look at it and we will do a little later because it gives us help for ourselves as we are tested, as we are tempted.
[11:23] It helps us to see how Jesus dealt with the temptations that we face similarly in our own lives. But before that, we need to see as well that there's something very important here in this testing which qualifies Jesus as the Savior of the world.
[11:41] When you have an examination, whether it be, again, to be a doctor or to be a pilot or to be something else, there's a qualification. You must pass this test to be qualified to fulfill the purpose.
[11:53] Well, Jesus had to pass these tests here in the wilderness particularly that qualified him to be the Savior, the only Savior, the complete Savior of sinners. And that's because we see that he came to do and fulfill what the whole nation of Israel failed to do.
[12:13] There's a connection here very much between Jesus and the people of God in the wilderness. We've been thinking about that in Exodus on Sunday evenings if you've been with us then. They too spent a great deal of time in the wilderness, 40 years.
[12:27] Here, Jesus, 40 days. They too, we know, were hungry in the wilderness and God provided them with manna, the bread from heaven. And we're told here that Jesus himself was hungry.
[12:41] But we're also told as well that the reason that the Lord led them through the wilderness as he did was to test them. Here's what Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 8.
[12:51] The Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to humble and to test you. They were being tested as to how they would trust the Lord, whether they would be faithful to him, that they might be the nation he wants them to be, a nation of blessing to the whole world.
[13:11] The difference between their experience in the wilderness and Jesus' is this. They failed the test but Jesus passed the test. Israel was the servant of God.
[13:24] He speaks about that in Isaiah. You are my servant Israel in whom I will display my splendor. God had said to Abraham when we looked at the promise last week that in you all the peoples of the earth will be blessed meaning the nation that would come from him.
[13:40] Israel was especially chosen to be in the world that light, to be in the world that witness to the living God, to be in the world that testimony to the way of knowing God.
[13:51] But they failed again and again and again and they began sadly with failure even here in the wilderness. But Jesus is the perfect servant of God.
[14:03] We read that too in Isaiah 42 where he is spoken about coming as the Lord's servant. He came from God into the world to bring salvation to the world.
[14:17] Here's what Jesus says about himself. The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus' saving work was to restore what humanity had lost and to restore to God what had been lost to him.
[14:36] Those people that he had created and made. And so it's important for us just to recognize that this is recorded for us for this reason. To see Jesus the fulfillment of the nation Israel.
[14:49] Jesus the one who passed the test that they failed. So qualifying him to be the saviour of the world. But also there's something else here that goes even further back because there was someone else who was tested and tempted before Israel.
[15:10] There was somebody who was tempted and tested and very like the temptation of Jesus was tempted and tested by the devil. Now you know who I'm thinking of.
[15:20] We thought about him last week Adam. Adam and Eve as they were in the garden in Genesis and chapter 3. The devil came and tempted them and tested them and they failed that test.
[15:36] And because they failed that test sin came into the world and death came to all people. They broke or lost that relationship with God that fellowship with God that Jesus came to restore.
[15:53] And they were given a promise which we looked at last week. A promise in Genesis chapter 3 that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the devil but that his heel would be struck.
[16:06] We saw that that points us to Jesus suffering. Suffering and dying that he might conquer evil and the devil. So Jesus comes comes into this arena as it were comes into this place of battle comes into this testing place he has to pass these tests face the devil as Adam did and not give in to temptation he has to face the trials of being in the wilderness and hungry as Israel did and pass the test that they failed.
[16:47] And so that's why we find surprisingly verses 1 and 2 verses 1 and 2 Jesus full of the Holy Spirit left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
[16:59] There's no accidental wandering if you watch some of these programs with Bear Grylls or the other fella and they say well we're in this part of the wilderness and 40 years ago a plane crashed here and these people had to survive for 30 days and this is what they did and how they managed to escape or they died.
[17:21] Now Jesus didn't accidentally land up in the wilderness he didn't get lost on his way home he was led by the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit. This is all part of God's purpose and plan.
[17:34] he was beginning his ministry to bring salvation to the world and he was doing the work of God.
[17:45] Now before we go into these temptations you may be thinking well of course for Jesus these were easy. Remember he's the Son of God and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and he was the perfect man so these testing times that Jesus went through are not to be compared with mine mine are much harder mine are much more difficult it's much harder for me to walk that righteous life before God it's more difficult surely Jesus temptations were easier because he was God but dear friends to say that is to forget that he was fully human in every single way apart from sin and the tests that our Lord Jesus endured here and in other parts surely were and are as hard as ours and indeed much much greater surely we can't forget what happened to him on that night before his betrayal and murder when he went to the Mount of Olives can any of us say that we have been tested in the way that Jesus has
[18:49] Father if you're willing Jesus pray take this cup from me that's the bitter cup of God's wrath yet not my will but yours be done pardon me and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground has any of us ever experienced that though we've experienced I'm sure anguish and temptation and testing in times of great trial let us not think that these things were easy for Jesus that it was a walk in the park the test and the temptations he felt were real there's certain things we need to recognise too before we begin to look at these temptations and apply them and what they mean to him and to us first is this temptations and trials are not a sign that we are unspiritual people temptations and trials are not a sign or evidence that we are not walking with
[19:50] God or that we are in sin that can be the case can't it do you remember poor old Job in that book where his friends came and sat with him for seven days and didn't say anything that was the best thing they could ever do once they opened their mouths they made a complete hash of it because basically they said to poor old Job these trials these problems these difficulties you're facing are because there's secret sin in your life that you've not confessed and dear friends that's sometimes one of the temptations we can feel or one of the things that the devil would bring upon us or upon ourselves well the reason I'm struggling with temptation the reason I'm feeling my faith is being tested is because I'm not walking with God because there's sin in my life well that's almost certainly the case that there is sin in life but it's not a sign that we are not walking with God not a sign that we are unspiritual he is Jesus led by the Holy Spirit full of the Holy Spirit being tested and tempted and remember what God had said of Jesus just a few moments earlier when my voice from heaven at his baptism says you are my son whom
[20:56] I love with you I'm well pleased he's just enjoyed a wonderful experience of the assurance of God's love in fact it may well be that the tests that we go through the times of temptation that we go through may well follow a time of great blessing often that case we've been on a spiritual high we've really sensed the nearness of the Lord we've really been encouraged perhaps by Sunday or perhaps by a convention we've been to or by some fellowship we've had or whatever we've really come away encouraged and then suddenly the next day there's a real test and a real temptation that comes upon us may well be that when we've known God's nearness and blessing we've become unduly confident we've let our guard down we haven't been careful in the things that we've been doing or seeing 1 Corinthians 10 12 so if you think you're standing firm be careful that you don't fall temptation is not a sign that we are not spiritual godly people but also we need to recognize as well that it is the devil who tempts us the devil who tempts us he's called the tempter it's one of his titles and Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers 1
[22:18] Thessalonians 3 5 I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you we have an enemy dear friends a very real enemy the devil is not some cuddly toy that's stuck in the back window of a car he is not some comic character with a red tail and horns he is the most vicious vile enemy of all humanity but especially the people of God and if you are struggling in times of trial and you're struggling with temptation you can be certain and sure that it is the devil who is at work there his work is to trip us up his work is to cause us to be ineffective as Christians his his work is to cause us to doubt his work is to cause us to dishonor the Lord he does all that he can to make us the worst Christians we could possibly be he can't take our salvation from us that's impossible and he will use any means that he can Paul talks about the schemes of the devil he'll use other believers and dear friends that's a warning to us the devil will use us if we are foolish or sinful or allow him to to be a snare to others we must be very careful how we walk with our brothers and sisters in
[23:35] Christ the devil will use the people of the world of course to tempt us the people we work with the people who are our friends and colleagues our neighbours who use of course our own sinful desires yes unlike the Lord Jesus Christ we do have a sinful nature even when we're converted and born again there is still within us that sinful aspect to who we are and it's it's there and the devil plays upon those weaknesses he knows where our weak points are as we'll see in a moment the devil's purpose is to deceive us to cause us harm and to cause dishonour to the Lord so let's look at these temptations together why did the devil use these particular temptations why do we only have these three was it only three I think there was probably a great deal more than that we're told for 40 days he was tempted or tested by the devil I think that there were many other ways in which he was tempted but we have these three because they are particularly pertinent particularly helpful to us how did
[24:50] Jesus overcome these temptations and these tests surely that's going to be really what we want to know because when we face them we want to succeed we want to conquer we want to overcome them as God's children today first of all the first temptation I've put in this way Jesus was tempted to please himself now he was hungry we're told there at the end of verse 2 and so the devil aims his arrow at Jesus's present weakness you see the devil is a very good fisherman he knows exactly what bait to put upon the hook he knows your and my weaknesses for some of us the temptation towards one thing is not a problem we have no there's nothing within us that's drawn towards that particular sin or temptation but for others it is a strong pull it is a weakness it is something that may be within their nature or something that's still hanging over from their past it's something that is powerful and the devil knows that but the temptation to please ourselves is common to us all isn't it the temptation to satisfy our own desires the temptation to fulfill our own lusts our wants now of course being hungry is only natural isn't it for Jesus to be hungry at the end of 40 days is not unnatural it's something good actually our tummies tell us we're hungry which means we need food we need fuel so why would it have been wrong for Jesus to have turned a rock into a loaf of bread it certainly wasn't something that he couldn't do something that he could have quite easily have done he isn't tempting him to use his power or to say well you can't do it no we know
[26:44] Jesus turned water into wine so a rock into a stone is easy we know that Jesus was able to take just a few loaves and fish and feed 5,000 people the miracles that Jesus does later on show that this is no problem the test is a simple one though it's this are my needs and wants the things that I live for are my needs and wants the things that guide and control my actions and my life or as Jesus answers is God's will that which I live for so Jesus is quoting part of Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 about the time when the people were in the wilderness Moses is talking to them and Moses reminds the people in the wilderness that when they were there their needs were met by God he gave them that manna to eat and water from the rock so actually the whole of the phrase is man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God in other words God's will and
[27:49] Jesus doesn't need to quote it all because he knows it all and he knows the devil knows it all man shall not live on bread alone the physical things the desires that we want are not the things that we're to live for they're not the primary things the most important things so the question and the test to you and I is this what is it that I'm pursuing in life what is it that I'm living for when I'm faced with a choice between doing God's will and my own pleasure my own desire my own lust who wins out what is it that I'm committed to most of all Jesus was totally committed to doing his father's will and he knew that his father would give to him everything he needed as and when he needed it that he would give to him good gifts and give to him the best and give to him only that which was for his good who are you living for dear friends what is the what is the purpose of your life what is what is it that motivates you because unless you are committed to Christ unless you are committed to the father's will until you are given over to him completely then that temptation to please yourself contrary to
[29:13] God's will will always be there that temptation to live for self will always be there and that will have massive repercussions upon our relationships with others and our relationship with the Lord and our effectiveness in the Christian life can we say that we live for the word that proceeds from the mouth of God that's a safeguard that's the safeguard from this temptation of pleasing ourselves the second temptation that Jesus was tempted with was Jesus was tempted with the world's praise so he's told in verse 5 the devil led him up up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and he said to him I will give you all their authority and splendor it's been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to if you worship me it'll be all be yours now some people say well the devil was lying he hadn't he hadn't got control over the world it was not his to give but actually I would disagree and say that the devil did and does have the worship of the people of the world that he does have their ear that he does have their obedience and we've given it to him humanity have conceded their power as it were to live God's way by giving the power to the devil knowingly or unknowingly that's why again and again in the New Testament the devil is called the God of this age that's
[30:47] Jesus's words the God of this age the God of this world elsewhere he calls him the prince of this world every single person including the Christian at one time Paul tells us followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air Ephesians 2 so if you're not a Christian this morning whether you realize it or not you are part of the devil's kingdom you are following his ways you're following his directives you say no I'm doing exactly what I want to do I'm living my life as I please yes that's exactly what the devil wants you to do and to think because you're living contrary to the Lord your God Jesus came into the world to destroy the devil's work to bring all people under his good rule but to for him to do that to break and crush the devil's head as it were to break his power over people he had to go to the cross and suffer for his people the only way for Jesus to receive the praise of the world to receive the the right affection of the world was for him to suffer in their place but here Satan in one sense is saying here's a way for you to have the praise of the people without the pain if you bear down and worship me whether he would have kept his word or not very unlikely that he would have done but in one sense the temptation is is as we know not necessarily real when we're tempted for something we say well we'll do it it often doesn't supply what it promises the devil never supplies what he promises but in one sense he's tempting Jesus you don't have to go by the way of the cross just worship me and I'll give you all the the world I'll give you the world you came to save I'll give the people over to you so that they will accept you and receive you and worship you dear friends we all want to be popular we all want to be liked we all want to be accepted we want the people around about us to think well of us and to and to like us and to and to to praise us but if you're a Christian that's impossible without compromise
[33:16] Jesus warned later on in Luke in chapter 6 26 woe to you when everyone speaks well of you for the Christian to live a life which is pleasing to God means that it will not be pleasing to the people of the world that it will not be acceptable to our neighbors our friends our relatives that it will mean that we will have to bear pain what did Jesus say if anybody wants to follow me he must take up his cross daily so the question and the test to you and my and I is this do I want to please God would I want to please other people Jesus says you must worship the Lord your God and serve him only you can't serve the world you can't serve the popularity of people you can't serve what they want and serve God as well you can only serve him and worship him if we love the worship of people if we love people to say good things about us then we will inevitably be unable to love God what are you willing to compromise in your Christian faith and life so that people will like you are you willing to go along with the jokes in the office which are crude or blasphemous and smile and laugh because you don't want to be thought badly off are you willing to be quiet about what you did on Sunday and not speak about the reality of your faith because you don't want to be thought of as a fanatic or a Bible basher perhaps there's other things as well compromises that we will make just so people won't speak of us badly the Apostle John whose letter is all about love says this in 1 John if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in them it's as simple as that what do I want most to be liked to be loved or to be faithful to be obedient is the Lord God the one that matters mostly to me and then thirdly the temptation that Jesus faced here is the temptation to doubt his father's love verses 9 through to 12 the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the temple if you're the son of God notice the ifs he likes to show so ifs devil will always say if you do this you'll get that if you if you go my way it'll be better for you and so on he wants us to doubt wants us to doubt God particularly if you are the son of God God has said you are my son so he's putting sowing doubts in Jesus mind about God's word throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully they'll lift you up in their hands so you will not strike your foot against a stone Jesus answered it is said do not put the Lord your God to the test the dot the devil is bringing God's love and faithfulness into question and notice how he's using the Bible devil knows the Bible better than you and I the devil is a liar so he twists the
[36:59] Bible he deceives us through God's word and we must be very careful about those who preach God's word and who we listen to preaching God's word because the devil will seek to deceive us but really what he's saying to Jesus is this if you're the son of God then and God really loves you then you can put his promise to the test he said he loves you he said he'll care for you said go throw yourself off and he'll catch you he'll look after you you can prove the father's love to you now that temptation comes to us in a slightly different way but it's just as painful he says if you're a Christian why does God allow you to suffer if you're a Christian why is this terrible thing happened to you why are you suffering this illness why have you experienced that loss if God loved you he wouldn't allow that to happen if you're really his child think about the promises he said I'll never leave you or forsake you but there you were in that hospital bed and you felt so alone where was God and God has said that he should supply all your needs but there you are you you're having to go without so either you aren't God's child or he's failed you have you ever felt that way have those doubts ever sprung up in your mind I'm sure they have when trial and suffering comes the devil is there at the opportune time to tell us God has let you down he's not kept his word there was opportunity from the prove his love to you and he failed you but Jesus replies and again he's replying from Deuteronomy all his replies come from Deuteronomy 6 and 8
[38:55] Jesus response is simply this don't test God trust God don't test him trust him when when he's quoting from Moses it's talking about the time when the people put God to the test by complaining against him for they didn't have food and they didn't have water and Moses has just said to them do you remember those 40 years in the wilderness God gave you manna from heaven water from the rock shoes never wore out and your clothes never became rotten God has proven himself to us again and again and again dear friends he's proven himself to us by the person of Jesus Christ his son can God ever stop loving you when he's given the most precious possession he has because you're going through a trial and a testing time is that evidence really that he does not love you or is it evidence in fact that he is a God who is with you in thick and thin that is with you in good and bad that he's with you in sickness and in health yes those temptations are tough please let us not let the please don't think that in some way I'm I'm under appreciating just how painful trials can be and tests can be they were for Jesus they will be for you and they will be for me but it is only as we trust the Lord trust him that putting his will first is best for us trust him that actually seeking to please him is much better than seeking to please the world trusting him in all things for the help and strength that we need only then shall we as Jesus has done pass the test
[40:44] I mentioned earlier from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 where Paul writes to the believers and tells them if you think you stand firm be careful you don't fall but he goes on to say this and this dear friends I close with no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind and God is faithful he will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear we feel like it but here is God's word but when you are tested he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it let's pray together we thank you that Lord Jesus we have in you one who has been tempted in every way as we are we have one who has suffered temptation so that he can help those who are tempted we thank you that we have one who understands us more than we understand ourselves and oh Lord we confess and we come to you again and we acknowledge that we feel ourselves sorely painfully tested you know the circumstances that we face you know the pain that we bear you know Lord how within us there is that longing and that desire for our own comfort it's only natural in that sense but oh Lord we thank you that in the midst of our test just as Jesus was led by your
[42:46] Holy Spirit so you lead us through those times and you supply for us strength and help for those times that even though the tempt of the devil is there to trip us up you are there to steady us and to hold our hand we pray particularly for those who are going through times of testing now whether that be physical emotional spiritual we pray oh Lord that you would be near to them and that your word would be their strength that your word would be their power and that oh Lord in your grace they might pass that test coming out as Jesus did trusting in you oh Lord deliver us we pray as we pray in the Lord's prayer deliver us from temptation oh Lord keep us from the evil one that in our lives oh Lord we might serve you in this day and generation
[43:49] Amen Amen