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00:00 I'm speaking not only to you but many of the FBC people who are at home with a cup of tea in their bedroom slippers.
00:07 This is called limited mode um uh church service because we are doing this
00:14 because of the escalation and number of cases of covid virus uh because of the
00:20 numbers that are not insignificant. We need to do this until things clear up.
00:26 Um just to clarify a few things, it is quite obvious from all the data that going around the world that uh this is
00:32 not the flu. The flu's death rate is 0.1%. This is in excess of one. Even the
00:39 best countries like uh who have controlled this like uh Korea. So we need to be careful and the bottom line
00:45 is social is uh distancing. We need to be socially distant for a little while.
00:50 So because of the number of infections come out coming up the leadership thought it'd be responsible for us not
00:57 to gather in a huge group so that if anything uh we already have one or two of our own folk going into isolation
01:04 because of possible contamination. So for the next this week and the following
01:10 week only up to March 15th which is the next week we will continue to hold our services always here but you're
01:16 encouraged to stay at home and catch the service via
01:22 the the the website. Okay. So uh and then after that we'll have to review the situation. The youth service is still on
01:29 uh via Instagram live. There is no Sunday school next week as well. And the live website is available for both
01:35 services. you're encouraged to stay at home. Um, next slide is uh let me just get the slide up. Okay, so uh remember
01:43 tithe is an offering. So remember not to because we still have to pay staff uh to work with us. So therefore click on it.
01:50 There is a online banking thing which you could use to basically give your
01:55 tithing as it were. All right. So let me uh now start today's sermon with reading the word of God.
02:03 Genesis 3:es uh 1:7. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the
02:10 field that the Lord had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, "You
02:15 shall not eat of any tree in the garden?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in
02:22 the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die." But the
02:29 serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you'll
02:35 be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, it was a delight for the eyes. And
02:41 the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who
02:47 was with her, and he ate. And both their eyes were open, and they knew they were
02:52 naked, and they saw fig leaves together, and made themselves lin. Let's start with a word of prayer. Lord, we ask
03:00 for us as we revisit this seinal event in the history of mankind that is
03:07 actually the cause of so much misery in the world today that you be with us. Let
03:13 the words of scripture resonate in our hearts. Let the Holy Spirit come in and minister to us as what you want us to
03:20 learn and transform our lives with. We ask all this for Jesus' sake. Amen. So that's Genesis 3:es 1-7. There are
03:29 today when we talk about temptation, there are basically three factors that I want to talk about in the temptation of
03:35 Adam and Eve. Uh the three factors are Oh, can you sit over here please? Right.
03:41 What we don't want is uh less cleaning for us. We come here in the middle. Right. Okay. Thank you. Um
03:49 temptation always involves three things. One, a loss of trust. two, a loss of
03:54 identity, and three is ultimately a test of love. All right, so um let's look in
04:00 the text. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field
04:06 that the Lord had made. So, we start off the scene. Chapter one, creation of the
04:13 world. Everything was absolutely perfect. The six days of creation, seven was the Sabbath day. Chapter two zooms
04:21 in a recapitulation on the seventh day. What happened? God created Adam and Eve uh to glorify to magnify to reflect the
04:28 glory of God. In chapter three, something happens which changes the
04:35 entire direction of the world. Somebody said, you know, uh the world will be a
04:41 different place if the first men and women were Chinese because they would have eaten the snake
04:47 rather than the fruit. Um but be that as it may, the serpent
04:53 was more crafty than any other beast. And this word crafty was is the word translated arum, clever, which is not in
04:60 a pjorative manner. It was just a clever fellow uh and it was a beast of the field uh that the lord had made. And and
05:06 if you look back in ancient near east uh literature, uh the serpent is a deity as
05:13 it were. So uh if you look at the lower Egypt they actually worship Wajette which is basically the Egyptian god. Go
05:20 back to Sumerian times you've got Ningjida Sumerian god and that even in
05:25 Greek times you look at the Greek statue Hermes holding that rod with two snakes that represents Ningjuda as well. So
05:32 it's cast as a deity. But when Moses writes here you see very carefully he
05:37 says the serpent was more clever crafted than any other beast of the field that the Lord had made. He does not give
05:44 credit to the serpent as a god. He describes it as a beast like any other
05:50 beast created God made by God. It's not a individual separate circle of power.
05:57 It is still created by God under the sovereignty of God. And he comes to Eve
06:03 and the first thrust into her world is he says, "Did God actually say you shall
06:10 not eat of any tree in the garden?" The erosion of trust begins with the doubt
06:16 on God's commands. Did you hear correctly or not? That's what he's saying. And the way he cast it is not an
06:24 innocent question. The question is, did God actually say you shall not eat of
06:29 any tree? And here you can actually see God says you can eat any tree except this one tree but he's casting to God
06:34 say you cannot eat of any tree. He's right trying to cast it in such a way that God is a bit strict. Isn't it? And
06:42 and then that and Eve buys into this mischaracterization of God. Why? Because
06:50 all of us have wrong views of God. So doubts are caused by inadequate views of
06:56 God. And when we struggle, we either think of God under our own terms with our own experiences or we think of God
07:03 as revealed to us by the word of God. That's why we are Bible teaching, preaching all the time. We're not at
07:09 liberty because if we are at liberty to think of God, then we will have inadequate views which then lead to
07:14 doubt. If you can see here, God can be thought to have all the power but no
07:19 love. If you look in Mark, let me read to you. A man with leprosy came to him.
07:25 Jesus begged him on his knees. If you are willing, you can make me clean. See,
07:33 he he he thinks Jesus is powerful, but Jesus may not love him enough. So,
07:39 the word is if you are willing, you can make me clean. In a separate instance,
07:46 you've got love, but more power. And here is a child. Uh father comes to Jesus. It says from childhood it is
07:53 often the spirit has cast him into the fire into the water to destroy him. But
07:58 if you can do here you have the belief that Jesus can okay has love okay but no
08:08 power. So each of us come with inadequate views of God and it is this
08:13 inadequate views of God that the devil uses to tap into our psyche.
08:19 If you look in the way God has revealed himself, it's tricky because God is
08:25 completely holy. He cannot see or bear sin in his presence and yet he loves us
08:31 human beings. He's completely just and yet he will forgive you of your sin.
08:36 He's completely sovereign, control of every bit of hair that comes on your
08:42 head and every pimple that pops out in the wrong place. and yet you are totally
08:48 responsible and that's what the Bible portrays. But when you skewer the graph to either
08:54 direction then we get a wrong view of God. You can have so much awe of the sovereignty and power of God that we say
09:00 oh whatever happens happens. Remember we have a situation in Genesis where Joseph
09:08 was actually victimized. He was thrown into the pit. They were
09:14 going to kill him. his brothers at last minute they sold him off to slavery and through a series of events despite being
09:21 cast in the jail treated like a slave he actually rose to be the equivalent of a prime minister in Egypt at the end of
09:28 time when the brothers came and met him meet him again didn't really recognize him and they were a bit afraid
09:35 uh you know and then and then he could have turned around and said you know you know you recognize me I'm the one you
09:42 sold into slavery they could have turned around you It's because we sold you to slavery. Now you're prime minister. Ma,
09:48 they could have turned around said that, right? But Joseph said, "What? What you
09:54 have desired for evil, God has made good." So there is a balance between the
09:59 sovereignty of God and responsibility of man. But when we twist things around, we misunderstand God. And and secular
10:05 society is worse. Whatever happens, they always twist it, especially the western press in such a way that it's God's
10:12 teaching which are horrible. So, here is a a picture of a young lady called Hannah Baxter in Queensland with three
10:19 lovely children and they were driven to a particular spot one day and the
10:25 husband got out, locked, poured kerosene into the car, locked the three children
10:31 and the wife there and started a fire and was screaming and uh uh and shouting
10:37 and struggling in the car. Passerby came by to try to release them. He knocked them back. He wanted them to burn. All
10:45 of them were incinerated except Hannah who came out with 90% burns and she was
10:51 uh she died the next day. If you have 90% burns, you won't live. This is how the western press portrayed it. Scott
10:57 Morrison is the prime minister of Australia. And you know what they wrote? So why does the liberal government do so
11:03 little to reduce violence against women and children? Part of the issue lies in Pent Morrison's Pentecostal belief
11:09 system. It preaches that women must submit to their husbands to be subordinate to them. Pentecostalism has
11:15 many strains. In some, it is even acceptable to discipline an insubordinate wife with violence.
11:20 What has that got to do that? What has the prime minister's faith got to do with this terrible crime? Because
11:27 secular influences are the one that actually condemn Christian views. Here's
11:32 a confessions of an atheist. Why this person who used to be in the church left the church. She was written in Malaysian
11:38 Chronicle, November 7, 2014. I don't have to try to fit into the divine when science can explain the way the world
11:44 works. Most of all, I don't have to bother reconciling my idea of women's rights and sexist notions in
11:50 Christianity with other major religions. If other women are happy being submissive to their husbands and because
11:56 the Bible tells them to do so, that's up to them. But at least now I can choose not to and I'm free to seek a more
12:02 egalitarian relationship outside the misogynistic boundaries of religion. I found freedom in atheism. The freedom to
12:08 think. You see, Christianity is cast as this backward kind of religion with social moors. Um,
12:16 and that's why this person leaves the faith. See, erosion of trust progresses
12:23 because our trust is eroded because when we start to doubt God's commands, because God's commands are
12:28 old-fashioned, misogynistic, nonrelevant, isn't it? Once you start to doubt his commands, then you start to
12:34 doubt his motive. You see the motive which the devil imputes upon God. He says you will not die because God knows
12:41 that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open. You will be like God knowing good and evil. And so what he's saying
12:47 is that God is keeping something from you. Because if you were to eat it, your eyes will be open.
12:53 And God is trying to keep that knowledge from you, his motives. It's like taking
12:59 poison and you just pour it into the well. Whatever good water is there is
13:06 absolutely poison. Oswwell Chambers a famous Christian leader said all sin is
13:11 rooted on the suspicion that God is not very good. Not good. Not very good. And
13:17 imagine uh let me take you back to book of Ruth. The book of Ruth has this
13:23 beautiful verse and before that there's a context. Ruth and uh mother-in-law is
13:29 Naomi. So Naomi has a husband called Elimc. And what they do is they move out
13:35 from the promised land to the land of Moab and he's got two sons, Mahan and
13:40 Chillion. When they go up there, something happens. You know, must be a special corona virus that hits only men
13:47 because Ali Malak Mati the two sons of Mati it left all the women. The virus
13:53 only takes men. Hopefully COVID 19 is non-discriminatory.
13:60 left the three women, Naomi, Oprah, not the Winfrey, okay, and and Ruth.
14:08 And of course, since you only left with your mother-in-law, you don't want to stay with your mother-in-law. So, mother-in-law tells her, "You better go
14:14 back to your other Konga." Oprah was persuaded and she went back. And but
14:19 Ruth, the very faithful daughter-in-law, said these words to her mother-in-law.
14:25 Ruth said, "Don't urge me to leave you or to return from following you. From where you go, I will go, and where you
14:31 lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. Your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and I will be
14:38 buried. May the Lord do so to me. And also more, if anything, but death parts be from you." And then when the homie
14:45 saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, "No more." Very admirable. Mother-in-law is here. If you
14:51 have a daughter-in-law say that to you, what would you feel? Ah, heart doesn't melt, right? Wonderful bottle and
14:56 daughter. Lord, sun dye some more stick with you. Suppose I go up to Naomi and
15:02 whisper, "Yeah, you know this one gold digger. Marry your husband, you know, for money,
15:10 money face." And you know why she's nice to you? She wants get passport to go back to Israel with you. You know, there
15:17 she will find a rich young Jewish man and they will dump you. Now if Naomi
15:23 heard that and she believed that maybe not entirely but every time she bring a
15:30 yamcha she think ah this one maybe
15:37 something there it poisons your mind and that's what Satan does it poisons our
15:42 minds the devil always exploits vulnerable areas of our lives you see when you're asked
15:49 but God said you shall not touch eat the fruit of the tree that's in the middle. That's what she says. Neither shall you
15:55 touch it lest you die. God didn't say that, right? God said all the trees,
16:01 fruit of the trees in the garden you eat except this one. You eat this one, you you die. Did he say you cannot touch
16:09 her? Every day she goes, she looks at the fruit, she smells the fruit, they're
16:14 not touched. Obviously, this this temptation has found resonance in her
16:20 heart. Otherwise you wouldn't add kal you add stuff actually God said don't eat but you say don't touch tomorrow we
16:27 don't look right we expand it all because underlying there's an
16:32 vulnerability this is professor John Adams in a paper published in university London 1906 on the psychology of
16:39 temptation and he says we are tempted to do only what we can do it is not what is
16:44 put in our mind so much as what the use of of made of ideas already there that
16:50 constitutes temptation. See, you can't tempt a person with a foreign thought
16:55 into their minds that they don't already have resonance with in their hearts. You
17:00 can't imagine a young 5-year-old boy and you bring yesterday's version of Playboy
17:06 and show him. Do you think there's anything happen? Nothing. You show it to any warm-blooded male here, something
17:13 will happen. but because it has resonance in our hearts. And so that's the area of vulnerability. So if you
17:20 look into our minds and our hearts, we've got perceived unfairness about God. We will never tell people, even our
17:28 spouse, that God is unfair. But in our heart, we know he's unfair.
17:33 In our hearts, we may feel that God has hurt us. Why? Because there's something
17:39 I wanted in the past. If you you see how we perceive of God is also how we we get
17:45 it from our parents. I I came of from a from a family where my father died when
17:50 I was about 8 years old. But my my experience with him prior to 8 years old was he wanted us to be a success. And my
17:58 only interaction with him often was with the end of a cane where he wanted to beat you until you got all A's. That's
18:05 all he was interested in and I don't see him anything else. And when you grow up with that kind of Chinese mandrin
18:11 mentality, then you impute that image on God. Isn't it? That God is like that, you don't feel God's love, you feel your
18:18 father's wrath. And then that is imputed on God. And
18:24 when things don't happen, then you blame God. What about unanswered prayer? If you look at the Confederate army versus
18:30 the Union Army, you'd have thought, "Ah, this how God works. We if you lived in those days, Ulysus Srant was a hard
18:37 drinking swearing man. Robert E. Lee who leads
18:43 the Confederates was a devout Christian. Guess who will win?
18:48 Yeah. How can God bless the one who drinks and swears at him? We can't
18:53 understand. We can't understand because it's never going to make a difference because this world is ruled by God's
18:58 plan, not your plans. That's the problem in life. two years ago when this man stroed into
19:07 our lives again like a bad dream. It would it looked like a good dream then,
19:12 right? And everybody was saying, "Well, I've been praying for the nation forever, you know, and then now
19:17 righteousness has returned, you know, and this is what God is doing." Everybody's convinces what God is doing.
19:22 And then what about two weeks ago? Same man. Ma say what is God doing? Then you say,
19:28 "Oh, God has left us." See, we like to interpret the turn of
19:34 events according to our perspective what God should do and should not do. And
19:39 when God doesn't do that, you think after two weeks ago your faith was shaken, that you don't believe in God,
19:47 you won't say you won't believe in God, but you are less confident on God, right? Then you pray a little bit less.
19:53 Ma, you don't read newspaper anymore. I haven't read for a long time. Malaysia Kiny. Why? Because it's too devastating
20:01 to my own faith. Because we want to interpret God the way we want to do.
20:08 It was a BBC story uh um u uh movie that
20:13 was put out recently called God on trial. And if you think our situation is bad, you go and look at the Jews. This
20:20 is a movie made of a true story in Alswitch where 95% of the residents of
20:25 Aswitch were taken to the gas chambers and either burned or incinerated.
20:30 And in the middle of that chaos where the entire Jewish nation was imprisoned and would be suffering to the extent of
20:38 maybe a genocide, a couple of Jews, three or four of them got to the back of the barracks. And you know what they
20:44 did? They held a trial. They held a trial and the person on the dock was not
20:50 Najib. You know, it's God. Because God has a duty of care to the chosen people
20:56 of Israel. And look, every day more of the chosen people of Israel are going up
21:01 in smoke. And they had a trial. And then there was some controversy whether this trial actually occurred. Uh recently uh
21:08 uh the Nobel Prize winner Ely Weasel testified that he was one of the people
21:14 in that trial. And it actually happened. They did a trial. They put out all the evidence and they had a verdict of the
21:21 trial. Okay. The verdict of the child was ch, which is Jewish for he owes us
21:28 something. God owes us something. You know why? Because we are the chosen people of God. But we shouldn't be
21:35 incinerated. We shouldn't be destroyed. We shouldn't have ch genocide. He owes us something.
21:42 And that is a problem with how we think. And that is our undoing. Because everything good that happens in our
21:49 lives that we say is a blessing is one more brick that goes upon our world view
21:56 of our lives. I grow up, I go to university, I get married, I'll do this, I'll do this. And whenever God does
22:03 something good towards that end and follows my plan, another brick goes up, another brick goes up, another brick go.
22:10 And that's why I love God. Whenever you have a brick that comes that doesn't fit with your plans, oh that one not God.
22:18 And so therefore we lose a bit of faith. So who is God? You. Because that's the way you view the
22:26 world according to you. And you will accept good things, bad things only under your own circumstances.
22:34 The best lies always have an element of truth. The serpent said to the woman,
22:40 "You will surely not die. your eyes will be open. Actually, that's true.
22:45 Did they die on the spot? Ananas and Safira died on the spot. They didn't die on the spot. They took a few more years
22:51 before they died. So, they that's the truth there. The eyes will be open. Yeah. Yeah. The eyes open is they saw
22:57 each other naked. But the shame, they didn't figure the shame. And I think that's how that's how
23:03 the devil gets us. All right. He will tell you a lot of stuff that's true, but
23:10 a lot of stuff that's not true, he'll mix in like a nice chang, you know, you know, this will mix in and make it
23:16 really taste nice. We're asked in church very clear that
23:21 we're not supposed to marry people who are not of the same faith. And the people will say, "Okay, yeah, we are.
23:27 But marriage good thing." Yes. How many say marriage bad thing? No, nobody here online anybody. It's good thing. It's
23:34 true. Uh, God wants me to be happy. True. God has a future for me. True. No, no
23:42 future for you, Eer. Not many Christian suitable Christian mates around. Ah, also true. All the
23:49 young people nodding. I see all here. People come to church all look like Chai one.
23:55 Very bad. Slim pickings. First Baptist church. Look today. I have to go through
24:00 Instagram and all the swipe left. I don't know whether swipe left or right. keep on swiping. You know, you don't
24:06 realize other people swiping on your dog face too. You know, it goes both ways. Uh or what about we when we get married,
24:13 we'll bring kids to Sunday school. M it's okay. We get married non-Christians. All right. Because we'll bring them Sunday school. I'll bring my
24:19 spouse to alpha. That's how all those things are true. Okay. There's even a verse in in one
24:25 Corinthians chapter 13. If a woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, he consents to live with her. She should not be divorcing him. For unbelieving
24:32 husband is made holy because of his wife. Unbelieving wife is made holy because of a husband. Otherwise the children will be unclean but as it is
24:39 they are holy. Which means if you're in a non-Christian and Christian marriage your spouse one day and your children
24:45 one day will come to know the Lord. But the verse here is that if you're already in the relationship
24:51 getting into relationship is what is called sin because it says do not be unequally yolked with unbelievers. For
24:59 what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ
25:04 with bial? What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? You
25:11 see, the devil makes us the best lies are actually interspersed with a bit of
25:17 truth. All right? We learned this from politicians. We learned this from the devil.
25:23 It the temptation always downplays the consequences. You will not surely die.
25:28 But they died a spiritual death first being separated from God. Cast out of
25:34 the garden of Eden. What do you think you have in the garden of Eden that keeps you alive? The tree of life. And
25:40 we have got cherubams placed there to make sure you have no more life. Thirdly, it makes lastly it makes us
25:46 lose perspective. I want you to compare the two perspective that the Bible brings out for us. One, the garden of
25:54 Eden, Adam and Eve. And two, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was baptized and he
26:02 was ushered into the wilderness. Not a drop of water, nor grain of rice,
26:08 no tree, no grass, burning sun every day for 40 days and 40 nights. And a garden
26:15 of Eden completely different. Four drop water, four river Tachuka,
26:21 Tigris, Eatis, Guhon, Pishon, all there.
26:26 every fruit imaginable in the world. In that situation,
26:35 they sin. Garden of Eden versus
26:40 no none of the blessings. Garden of Eden represents all the blessing in the world. Wilderness represents no blessing
26:45 in the world. And yet they sin because it makes us see the tempter makes us lose perspective. Every day when Adam
26:53 and Eve or Adam or Eve walks into the Garden of Eden, you know what they see?
26:58 Uh this one there's only one tree there. You know, they don't see the Busang King tree. They don't see the Rambutan tree. They
27:05 don't see the the the the the papaya tree. You know what they see? Only one tree. Only one smell, only one look. If
27:14 you actually look in the garden, you cannot even find. I think most of I challenge you to find the tree. very hard to find because it's a huge garden
27:22 but every day he only sees one tree see the tempter makes us lose perspective
27:29 that if I can't have that one thing means God is unfair
27:34 God why can't you give me this particular job why did you make me lose this particular job because this is see
27:40 you are trying to decide what is good for you that is the problem here's Nehemiah who basically
27:47 chides the people of Israel And this is what he says. Listen carefully. For they captured fortified
27:54 cities and the rich land and took possessions of houses full of good things, systems already huned,
28:01 vineyards, olive trees, or olive orchards, fruit trees in abundance. So the people of Israel were having great
28:06 time. They ate, they were filled, became fat, delighted themselves with your
28:12 great goodness. Verse 26. Nevertheless, they were disobedient, rebelled against
28:18 you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets, warned them in
28:23 order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Jesus was in the middle of the desert
28:30 and he didn't sin. We're in the midst of the garden of Eden with all the
28:36 blessings, and we do sin. So, temptation firstly always involves an erosion of trust.
28:42 It begins with doubt upon God's commands, his motives. He exploits the most vulnerable areas in our lives. The
28:50 best lies always have an element of truth. The devil always plays down the consequences and makes us lose
28:56 perspective. So the next thing is there are another factor involved in the temptation Adam Eve is the loss of
29:02 identity. If you look back in chapter 1 verse 27, God created man in his own
29:08 image. Of all the creatures in the entire world, donkey, snake, only one
29:14 bears the image of God looks like the almighty creator. In fact, uh Luke describes uh this the
29:22 son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God. He traces back that on that
29:28 time, the only son of God is Adam and Eve. And here it describes Satan's
29:35 temptation of Jesus. It follows a particular line and the line indicates
29:43 an assault upon Jesus' identity. You see, man has his identity as the image of God, son of God. Jesus is assaulted
29:51 in that way. And the template came to him and said, "If you are the son of God, command these stones to become
29:57 loaves of bread." And he answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." And the devil took him to the holy
30:04 city and set before him the pinnacle of temple and said to him if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it's
30:11 written each time is an assault upon his identity. If you your identity
30:18 determines your behavior. You are what you are because of where you come from.
30:25 So identity is important. Where do you get your identity? If you look in the in western literature we've got two kinds
30:30 of identity. One is called the buffet self. The buffet self is someone who self-defined,
30:37 shaped from within. You decide who you are. You determine what you want in life. The
30:44 other one is the eastern idea, the poorest self where you're defined by roles, by family or society. Your father
30:50 wants you become doctor, you become a doctor. Your father's a farmer, you want to be a farmer, you have to be a farmer.
30:57 So there's two ways, eastern and and western way. But the western way we all try to emulate is not necessarily very
31:03 good. This is Donald Trump with a commencement speech at the Liberty University 2017. He says, "The more that
31:09 a broken system tells you that you're wrong, the more certain you should be that you must keep pushing ahead." Which
31:16 explains his behavior. You must keep pushing forward. Always have the courage to be yourself. Isn't it? Every western
31:25 movie you see when a boy and girl love each other, the whole refrain that comes in the movie is you got to search and
31:32 sin. The answer is in your own heart. We define who we are, isn't it? If you go a
31:38 western eastern movie, you are who your father tells you to be. But nowadays, we're all western. We always look into
31:44 our inner selves. uh New York Times columnist David Brooks writes, "We are asked to follow their passion, to trust
31:51 their feelings, to reflect and find the purpose in life because you can find it within yourself."
31:56 There's a problem with self-buffered people and he describes this in detail.
32:03 They have no character. He says, "We live in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertise ourselves to
32:08 master the skills required for success, but that gives little encouragement to humility, sympathy, honest,
32:14 self-confrontation, which is necessary for character building. We have no satisfaction. Years pass and
32:21 the deepest part of yourselves go unexplored and unstructured. You're busy, but you have a vague anxiety about
32:27 your life has not achieved its ultimate meaning and significance. You live with an unconscious boredom, not really
32:34 loving, not really attached to the moral purposes that give you yet give life its worth. And then he writes, you lack the
32:42 internal criteria to make unshakable commitments. You never develop inner
32:48 constencancy, the integrity that can withstand popular disapproval or a serious blow. You find yourself doing
32:54 things that others approve of. whether these things are right for you or not. You foolishly judge other people by
33:01 their abilities, not by their worth. You do not have a strategy to build character. And without that, not only is
33:09 your inner life, but your external life eventually will fall to pieces. A humiliating gap opens up between your
33:15 actual self and your desire and your desired self. Even if you cast yourself
33:20 as this great hero, you can't even live up to your own image. And so the western
33:26 man is in conflict all the time. The issue is identity. We are told that
33:34 we are the image of the living God. We are the sons of God. Just before Jesus
33:40 was sent into the wilderness, God didn't send his son in the wilderness with a
33:46 tupperware and a package of tapan. You know what he
33:51 sent him there? With only one thing. He said to him, "When Jesus was baptized,
33:56 immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the spirit of God
34:02 descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved son
34:09 with whom I am well pleased." Armed with these words, Jesus is ushered
34:16 into the searing heat of a desolate wilderness.
34:21 with only these words and he survived
34:27 and he survived. So temptation results from a loss of
34:33 identity is when we don't know who we are or you don't believe who you are is
34:40 that when you follow a different path. Adam and Eve denied their identity.
34:45 Therefore, they were unfaithful to the word of God. The outcome was death. Jesus affirmed his identity. faithful to
34:51 the word and the outcome of life. Lastly, uh in this particular section,
34:57 the knowledge of the the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. People argue about this all the time. Some people
35:03 think it's, you know, it's just knowledge of evil. Man experiences evil, therefore, he knows evil. But then
35:09 probably how about how does God know evil? Well, God knows evil by resisting it. It's like it's like the patient
35:14 knows disease by experiencing it and the doctor doesn't he knows the disease by watching you experience it.
35:20 All right, but that doesn't really sound very logical. Uh, so to understand this,
35:25 you need to take the phrase knowledge of good and evil. Is it repeated elsewhere in the book of Genesis? And we find two
35:31 places where it's repeated. Genesis 31:24, Genesis 24:50. And it says, "God
35:39 came to Laban, the Aramean, which is the uncle of Jacob, in a dream in the night, and said to him, be careful that you do
35:47 not speak to Jacob, either good or bad, good and evil." All
35:53 right. Uh Genesis 24:5, the Laban and Betuel replied, "The matter comes from
35:58 God. We cannot speak to you, good or bad." So this issue of knowledge of good and
36:05 evil is something that only God can control. Laban saying to better we can't
36:11 say not for us to say it's only for God to decide. So whatever it is the right to decide what is good and evil is the
36:18 knowledge of good and evil. So you actually have the data set. The data set before Eve is that this fruit is good
36:26 for food, delight to the eyes and can make one wise. All right. Adam and Eve
36:32 saw these three data set there. The only difference here is that God says this
36:38 one cannot eat. But then she decides I will decide what
36:45 is good for me. I will decide what is good, what is bad for me. So she decides
36:50 the differentiation is what? The differentiation is between a creator and a creature.
36:56 Actually the fruit is neutral. It is between the creator and the creature. She did not accept her role as being the
37:03 creature. That creature is identity. They don't identify themselves as the sons of God as it were the the created
37:10 beings of God. And that's in society today. This is how we decide. If we are
37:17 modern people, we decide by science. You know what science does? You arrive at the ultimate truth by observation. We
37:23 observe. They're observing all the people in Wuhan. How many die? How many this and that? Then you come up with all
37:29 the data. it affects everybody and then they decide or if you're a philosopher you arrive at ultimate truth by logic if
37:37 it's logical it must be true but the problem is the skeptic will say the truth is
37:43 unknowable after doing all that we still if you look at medical science there's so many things we do not know you look
37:50 at postmodernist they're answering you know what they're saying now there's no such thing as ultimate truth it is your
37:55 truth and my truth isn't it and people live in their alternate realities and
38:01 that is going to be disaster as well. The last factor is the temptation in the temptation Adam and Eve is temptation is
38:07 ultimately a test of love. If you look at the three areas of temp uh passages
38:12 about temptation is very clear to us. One is Adam and Eve. One is Jesus in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 and lastly one John
38:19 chapter 2 and they're all similar. In fact, Paul uh says, "Don't let anybody
38:24 think that he stands alone. Take heed less his fall. No temptation has overt taken you." That's not uncommon to men.
38:30 It's all common. So here you have in leaf the temptation of something is good for food, delight to the eyes, make one
38:36 wise. Jesus had the hunger issues, sight of spectacular, glory of the kingdoms.
38:43 For we us in John chapter 2, it describes desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, the pride of life. Do not love
38:49 the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. All that is in the
38:56 world, the desire of the flesh, desire the eyes, the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world. The
39:02 world is passing away along with his desires. Or whoever does the will of God abides forever. I want to just clarify
39:10 this is not loving the world. The world is a entity in opposition to God. If you
39:16 look at all the fruits and vegetables, all that when Adam and Eve looks at the
39:22 fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and he looks at the Busan king, it's
39:28 exactly the same because when you look at the Busan king, you got desires of the flesh. The smell comes out and
39:36 suddenly there's a growl at the pit of your stomach. My god, this is great, isn't it? And you look at it, the the
39:42 the skin is golden yellow and thick and luscious and gooey. And you look at it
39:49 say, "Oh my god." And then when you eat it, wow, you're the only fellow in the in the whole USJ9 that can afford to eat
39:56 musanki, the pride of life. Now, if you think about it, the desires of the
40:02 flesh, desire of the eyes, the pride, the all what God
40:07 gave, isn't it? Desire is actually neutral. We love and desire food,
40:14 safety, respect, loyalty. Nothing wrong with all these things. But if it has satisfied in the wrong way is always an
40:20 issue of trust. We need all these things given to us by the hand of God.
40:26 There are two occasions of temptations of legitimate desires. And if you look at Jesus' life, it thrust into the
40:33 middle of the desert fasting for 40 days. The stomach is shouting
40:40 is screaming in pain and he is asked the devil tells him if
40:46 you are the son of God you you you turn the stone into bread actually what's wrong with that it's a hunger is a
40:52 legitimate desire after 40 days don't you think it's okay to eat
40:58 yes it is okay to eat but Satan said what if you are the son of God the moment you put that if you are the son
41:04 of god then you turn it so which means He's asking him to doubt the fact that he is son of God by creating bread out
41:11 of stone. He confirms that he's the son of God. And so therefore, he loses trust in the very words which God gave him in
41:17 one chapter before. One chapter before God sent him to the desert with only one word. This my beloved son, in whom I am
41:26 well pleased. Thrust into the desert, the Satan says, you better prove yourself as a son of God. Why? Don't
41:32 listen to him. just make this stone into bread and you'll confirm that you're the son of God.
41:39 Legitimate both involves desire. One is not legitimate because you must come
41:45 from the hand of God. The other legitimate desire is safety. You look at the garden of Gethsemane,
41:52 he's there and he knows within the next 48 hours or 24 hours he's going to be
41:57 crucified. He's going to be lynched. He's going to be stripped naked. He's going to hang for the whole world and suffer with an agonizing death that no
42:03 other man has gone through. And obviously he's terrified. Jesus is
42:08 not your brave Rambo guy take machine gun. You know, he is like you and me. He feels a legitimate desire to preserve
42:16 his own life. Legitimate. But he doesn't.
42:21 He knows that if he if he saves his own life, it'll be disobedience because his
42:27 father sent him into the world to save all of us to die for us. And if
42:33 he would preserve his own life, it would be a disobedience. And so therefore,
42:39 desire takes over. What about Ananas and Safhira?
42:45 Ananas says, Sophira, what is their sin? Their sin is very simple. Acts chapter 5. It's like us while we got live
42:53 streaming, right? And then you go and see at the button at the bottom. Click for tithing.
42:59 You click on tithing and you b pay b76. I think I'll give first baptist $10.
43:06 Ting $10. Then you meet uh Dr. Ian tomorrow. Hey say, how are you managed
43:13 to do? Yeah. Yeah, I put $10,000. Oh, you say, "My goodness, this fellow a
43:18 very generous guy. Damn fine Christian." That's exactly what Ananas and Safhira
43:24 did. They sold. They tell people they sell all but and they gave all but actually they gave half. Half also not
43:29 bad. Most haven't sell house yet. And they died on the spot. Nothing wrong.
43:35 It's your house isn't it? They could have sold the house and given half a quarter or don't give. No problem. But
43:41 you think God wants your househ. But the problem you tell people you give all but you actually give half. It's a
43:48 legitimate desires but to illegitimate ends. What do we do with desire? You see
43:54 desire in the world you got desire that that you either indulge it or you avoid
44:00 it or you repress it. And all religions will have some form of this with desire.
44:07 Isn't it? It's as if desire is our greatest enemy. If you be a Buddhist, the Buddhist will tell you all desire is
44:13 evil. So you live an austere life, shave your head, eat fruits only and walk
44:20 through Thailand. I will see everybody in Thailand spends two years doing that because desire is evil. You avoid it or
44:26 you repress it because you can't believe God is a good God. So therefore, you have to do good works in order to make him owe you. Or you think like the the
44:34 average man that that God is a killjoy. It's better indulge your desire to hell with God as it were. But desire is given
44:41 to us for a particular reason. Desire the purpose of desire is that desire
44:46 serves as a signpost to the desire for God. Why did God make
44:52 us with a stomach that will growl when we smell musanking? Why does God make us
44:58 with an eyes that are that that fix and feast on beauty?
45:04 Why why do we love beauty? Why do we love glory? Because all these things
45:09 actually created by God so that we will experience it and it's a signpost to who
45:15 he is. Psalm 37, delight yourself in the Lord and he will
45:22 give you the desires of your heart. You see the real desire is that when God
45:27 gives Adam and Eve, the fruit, the land, all those things are signpost to whom?
45:34 Himself. If you only take what he gives and focus on that,
45:40 then you've missed the entire point, isn't it? We see Paul says that every
45:46 man in Acts chapter 17 is created by God so that they should seek him and find
45:51 him. Augustine says we have a God-sized hole in our hearts. Unless we find God,
45:58 we will never be satisfied. And the fact that you are never satisfied is a pointed to the fact that there is a
46:03 God-sized incomplete desire in our hearts. You could have the richest man in the world,
46:09 Jeff Bezos. You know what he's doing every day? You think he's sitting down there counting his money? He's sitting down there making more money. If you got
46:16 100 billion, not enough, you know, must make more. Why? Incomplete desire.
46:21 You know in those days you used to eat what? D24. Wow. Why I eat myself eat
46:26 D24? I thought I was in heaven already. But now Tachuk I must have Musang King.
46:33 After Musang King will be something else. You see we're never going to be satisfied. The fact that you have
46:39 desires that cannot be quenched is an indication that there's something more that we need to be desired of. So the
46:46 desire is a signpost to God. And the other signpost to God is that our
46:51 vulnerability. I had a friend of mine who lived opposite the church when I first became a Christian Gassing Gospel
46:57 Hall. He was a classmate and and and we he always shared the gospel with his
47:02 father and his father's very strict Chinese uh headmaster kind of person and would never accept the gospel. And he
47:08 lived to a ripe old age always rejecting the gospel even though my my my friend is actually an elder in a church in in
47:14 in Malaca. And when he was 80, he brought him to see me. And the chap was struck with
47:21 bladder cancer. And if that wasn't bad enough, a few years later, struck with prostate cancer. Both still there. Two
47:28 parallel cancers going on. And our friends still, no, no, no, no, no. I'm a
47:34 captain of my faith. But towards the last few days of his life, last three weeks, he softened now. And he actually
47:42 accepted Christ three weeks before he died. Now the question is people say you know
47:47 when you're ill you become vulnerable right and because he's desperate you
47:53 worship God very simple isn't that God force him to worship him hey if you
47:59 don't think it's a rational thing to worship God right you think being ill you become irrational
48:06 then you might as well all sick people worship dog are all sick people irrational
48:12 no human logic IC dictates that vulnerability is a situation that allows you to lower
48:19 your defense mechanisms. You want to talk about God, I talk about evolution.
48:24 You talk about God, I talk about science. All these defense ting thing goes up and when suddenly you can answer
48:32 all the defense mechanism starts to drop and the first time in your life uh you
48:37 can open your eyes and see God clearly. Not because you suddenly became irrational.
48:44 It's because you suddenly became rational. You became human. Because human people are made to see God. And in
48:51 a bright clear day unencumbered by your sin, you can actually see God for the
48:57 first time in your life. CS Lewis says, "It's not the fact that we have
49:04 desires that too strong. It seems our desires too weak. We're half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and
49:11 sex and ambition. When infinite joy is offered to us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the
49:16 slum because you cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the seaside, we're far too easily pleased.
49:22 We're pleased with having our desires satisfied by the man kings of the world
49:28 or the small house or the million here, a million there. To us that we don't search for anything else. Isn't that
49:35 silly? In fact, Harry Shawnberg, a counselor
49:41 specializing in the area of sexual sin, he says in this particular area, God's action is so severe that he gives us
49:48 over not only to our desires, but to a condition of ungovernable desires. We
49:55 demand God steps back. We choose to regulate our lives rather than honoring
50:01 obeying God. We lose the ability to regulate our desires.
50:07 You see, you can go to God and God can give you your parents. Go to your parents. Parents say, "Hey, good son. I
50:15 give you $10. You're happy. He is happy. Everyone's happy." Or you can go to the father say,
50:22 "I want my $10. It's my right." Because if a good father give you then
50:29 tomorrow you come, you want 20, 30, 40. And you know what what consumes you in the end? It's not relationship. The
50:34 relationship is broken already. It is your desire. Your desires become overwhelming and it totally consumes
50:41 you. So then you have the next step which is illegitimate desires. The desire for food becomes gluttony. Desire
50:48 for sex becomes lust, greed, revenge and love satisfied
50:54 by slavery to sin. So you because you demand it in the end God gives you whatever you want. carry on. In the end,
51:00 our desires control us completely. You see, let no one say he's tempted by when
51:06 he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil. He himself tempts no one. But everyone is
51:12 tempted when he is leured and enticed by his own desire. So, it's a progression.
51:19 The issue is love. He said, "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of father is not in him. For all that is in
51:25 the world, the desire of the flesh, their eyes, and the pride of life is not from the father, from the world, and the world is passing along away along with
51:32 his desires, but to whoever does the will of God abides forever. We want the fulfillment of our desires apart from
51:39 God. We're coming up to God and saying, "I want my $10. I don't want you." Same $10. Whether the
51:47 father give you $10, you grab the $10, the same $10, right?
51:52 One he give you, the other one you grab. And the one you grab, he gives you. And you keep grabbing. And and all you have
51:58 in the end is paper money. And you don't have him. And the paper money with your father was
52:05 going to give you was going to make your heart happy because you were in relationship with him. And now has
52:11 become your God. And that's the problem. How do we overcome temptation?
52:17 By going back to the same three core issues in the Adam and Eve, trust,
52:23 identity and love. If you look at every major event in the history in the Bible,
52:29 creation of the world, nine times God said, "And let there be." He created
52:35 with what? His word. It came true. When God said to Abraham, I want you to leave
52:42 the land of travel all the way across the other side with nothing. you know no
52:47 seven level no shops in between based on that one word he left and when God said
52:53 to him take your son your only son the one supposed to be the whole world become nations from that son I take that
52:59 one and take up to Mount Moriah and kill him he trusted he trusted Jehovah Gyra God
53:06 who will supply and God supplied when when when the people were in
53:13 slavery in Egypt God spoke through one And Moses, let my people go, he tells
53:19 Pharaoh. And through one man's word, through God, the people were saved. When
53:25 people were off in exile again in the land of Babylon, the word of God came in again and he saved. You see all through
53:32 history the only thing that is constant whether it been Babylon whether it be Egypt or
53:40 whether it be a switch the Jews still survive today you know
53:46 the people of God only got one thing the word of God when you go into desert when
53:51 you go through trial and suffering in your life when things don't turn out according to your plans you only got one
53:58 thing that you need to hold is not your Tupperware full of drinks and eats and money, a bank full of money. The only
54:04 thing you actually need in life is the word of God because that's the only thing that will keep you alive. Look at
54:09 Jesus. Every time he was tempted,
54:15 man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is written, "You shall not put
54:20 your Lord your God to the test." And Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan, for it's written, you shall worship the
54:27 Lord your God, and only him shall you serve." And that's all Jesus said. Just
54:33 a repeated, but it wasn't just a mantra repeating special words. It's actually
54:38 having these special words embedded into your hearts. Paul says, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be
54:44 transformed by the renewal of your mind." It's not coming to to to to to uh
54:50 imagine if you go to to uh Sai Hospital stand in front of the COVID 19 ward and say h the word of God and you you just
54:57 recite one word for God so loved the world and you think they will save you from COVID 19. No, it is the word of God
55:04 transforming your mind so that your attitudes and your likes and your
55:09 dislikes and your desires, your entire world is turned upside down by the word of God. That's the only thing that will
55:16 protect us from temptation. There was an unknown uh confederate
55:21 soldier who wrote this poem which is very true. I asked for strength that I
55:27 might achieve. I was made weak that I might humbly learn to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I
55:34 was given infirmity that I do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I
55:41 might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness that I might feel the
55:48 need for God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy. I was given life
55:54 that I enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my
56:01 unspoken prayers were answered. I am all men most richly
56:08 to be blessed. That is trust.
56:14 Being able to see behind the curtain of the difficult time that we have today. Be able to see behind COVID 19, behind
56:21 the machinations of politicians, behind everything else that's going on wrong.
56:27 We need to hang on to the word of God. Second thing is our identity. You see,
56:33 Jesus went into the desert and the most important thing that he learned is only one thing. The father said to him, "Behold, this is my beloved son in whom
56:41 I am well pleased." We go into today's political turmoil and difficulties in life and maybe loss of
56:48 job. They reckon about 100,000 people will lose a job because of this issues
56:54 of COVID 19 and slowing down economy. You go into this difficulty with the
56:59 words of Galatians 1 220. I have been crucified with Christ. is no longer
57:05 I who live but Christ who lives in me in the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me
57:12 and gave himself for me that's how we should live that's how we should go and
57:19 take if it's anywhere in our Tupperware to go into this difficult time you put in the
57:24 Tupperware that particular verse that will make us survive when we uh because
57:30 if you look at Philippians 3 Philipp brothers join in in in imitating me. Keep your eyes on
57:36 those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even
57:43 with tears walk as enemies of the cross. The end is their destruction. Their God is their belly. The glory in their
57:49 shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven from which we await a savior, the Lord
57:55 Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. So, we're
58:02 not citizens of Malaysia. We're actually citizens of heaven. We have a dual reality that we must begin to see. And
58:10 the identity determines how we live.
58:15 Yeah. I remember having a struggle with some of my friends who have migrated to Australia and so they they give birth to
58:23 children there and their children are automatically called what? A BC
58:28 Australianb born Chinese. Right? And there's a big struggle. You go to any of the Chinese churches, a big struggle
58:34 between Australianb born Chinese and overseas born Chinese. OBC because the
58:39 OBC's will come and they are guided by the fact that they are Chinese or they're Malaysian, isn't it? They don't
58:47 simply drink and get themselves drunk. They don't do drugs. They don't do all all the Chinese and then they study
58:52 every day one. Well, the ABCs have adopted a different sort of thing and then they have a big fight in the house
58:57 and the the father will tell the son remember you are Chinese you know you're not you're not caucasian it's as if your
59:04 identity determines how you live that's why identity is very very important because that's why the Chinese all over
59:10 the world keep to their culture right because the culture is identity culture is the way you live the way you live by
59:16 identity it keeps you safe the same thing that we need to live according to identity and and the Bible tells us so
59:22 much why is that page after page in the Bible tells us and reemphasizes our identity. It tells us we are chosen
59:29 race. We are royal priesthood, holy nation, people for his own possession, sons of God as God used creation. Every
59:36 time these words are mentioned, it's supposed to lift you up. You don't live like the rest of the world. You live
59:44 like an air. You live like a citizen of heaven. You live in a different way
59:49 because you are different. That's a reality that has not sunk in. We live
59:55 with our heads under the ground as if we're like everybody else, but you're not like everybody else. You are a
60:00 citizen of heaven. Start living. Start acting. Start loving like one.
60:07 We where do we base our identity on? We never base our identity on when we are
60:12 tempted. It's not what we do. We don't fall back on how popular we are, how godly we are, how clever we
60:19 are, how we have achieved, how hardworking, how much you have done for the church, how big your church is. When
60:24 we're tempted, the only thing we fall back on is what Christ has done for us.
60:30 You know, when we have the Lord's supper, we pass it around and we asked to reflect and then you you reflect. I
60:37 think the wrong thing is some of for some of you to reflect, oh, actually, I done bad things. I I better not take
60:42 today. It's as if you must be good enough to take the bread. If that's what
60:47 you think the Lord's supper is, then I think the leadership has done a wrong thing. We we've messed up. It's not how
60:53 good you are to take bread. It's how strongly you hold to the fact that how good he is, how effective his blood was
61:02 shed on the cross for you. That's what you have to reflect on. The other way is
61:08 salvation by works. Look at Isaiah. Isaiah says the path of the righteous is
61:13 level. You make level the way of the righteous in the path of your judgments. Oh Lord, we wait for you. Your name and
61:19 remembrance are the desires our heart. Only we have to trust God in this word. We have to understand our identity.
61:26 Lastly, we have to love him. Here when we wake up in the morning, what we want to have is that Lord, we wait for you.
61:34 Your name and your remembrance are the desires of our soul. Which means when you wake up in the morning, it's what he
61:39 wants. It's what what guides you. What is your northstar? Your northstar is the
61:44 fact that you love him. You desire him. Everything you do is for one end, what the end to serve him and to love him
61:51 more. Here is a scene from Simon Peter.
61:57 Jesus writes uh is in Luke chapter 22. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan is demanded
62:02 to have you that he might sift you like wheat. I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail when you turn and
62:08 strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him, Lord, I I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And Jesus said to you to him, I said, tell you,
62:15 Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me. Here's Jesus telling this
62:21 disciple that I've prayed for you. Satan is going to sift you like we mean. Satan
62:26 is going to test you, but I already prayed that your faith will not fail.
62:32 And then and and if you look at this chapter after he prays, Jesus is himself tempted and he survives. Judas is
62:39 tempted to betray Jesus and he falls. Peter is tempted to betray Jesus and he
62:45 falls. And you can find that Peter's faith is imperfect even though Jesus prayed for him. You have a very nice
62:51 scene where Jesus is walking across the courtyard and he has one look and the look is on Peter. And just at that
62:57 moment as he looks at Peter, Peter denies him. And that look is etched in
63:02 his mind completely. You see, Peter's faith was imperfect. But Jesus prayed, I
63:07 prayed that your faith may not fail, but Jesus faith is perfect. We survive
63:14 today. You know why? It's not that our faith is perfect, but the faith of Jesus
63:19 Christ is perfect. He will keep us in him. You look at John at the end of this
63:27 trial. He asked Jesus. Jesus asked Peter three times. He asked him for the third
63:32 time. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to
63:38 him third time, do you love me? And they said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. The love does not
63:46 mean he's perfect. Many of us say we love Jesus, but our love is not perfect. We fall. But our faith doesn't fail us
63:54 in the end. You know why? Because Jesus has prayed for us. Jesus intercedes for us every single day. Look at King David.
64:01 Uh Acts 13:21. They asked for a king. And God gave him Saul, the the God gave them Saul, son of Kish, man of the tribe
64:08 of Benjamin for 40 years. And when they removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified. I said,
64:16 and said, I found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my own will. David a man
64:24 after God's own heart. I won't even put my wife in the in the room next to him. He will rampass your wife and he'll kill
64:31 you. That's what he did, isn't it? And you call this man a man after your own heart to do all his will. It's
64:37 incredulous, isn't it? You call Peter your chief disciple when he betray you three times.
64:46 Your faith not failing does not mean you don't make mistakes. When Jesus prays for you as he prayed
64:54 for Peter, it's not that he's perfect, but his faith doesn't fail in the end. You know why? All of us the same thing.
65:01 We go through life and and the he writer of Hebrews says since we have our great high priest who's passed through the
65:06 heavens, Jesus the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession because we do not have a high priest who's unable to
65:12 sympathize with our weakness but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
65:18 draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace at a time of need.
65:25 Jesus is tempted like every single way like we have been tempted.
65:31 But the bottom line is like Peter, like David, God needs to look at us and say, "This is a man after my own heart." If
65:37 you really love God, that is going to make you survive the temptation right up
65:42 to the end. Not all the stuff that's happened to you. You may sin like David and all that, but the whole trouble is
65:47 sometimes you don't forgive yourself. You can't come back to God. In fact, uh there was an article in Christianity
65:53 Today 2017 of a young girl called Esther who
65:58 is not really her real name to protect her identity. The article just put her name as Esther. She was captured from a
66:04 village in Nigeria where she was looking after her age infirm father. Boo Haram
66:11 came, a bunch of monsters and thugs, beat her father to death and dragged her
66:19 with many other young women off into the jungles. And there they made them
66:25 convert to Islam. And as Esther said, she said the same words, "If I perish, I
66:31 perish." She refused to. And as a result, she was made a sex slave. She was raped repeatedly, innumerabably
66:38 in horrible circumstances. every time to to go off to war and come back and be drunk, they will just rape her. They
66:44 rape her so mercilessly until one day she had a baby. And through the whole
66:50 ordeal, she would always be screaming in her mind, "My Jesus, where are you?"
66:56 And time and time and time, every time they raped her, there didn't seem to be an answer. And she was flung to the
67:03 depths of shame, felt worthless. And one day she got
67:08 pregnant. That's even worse. In the middle of pregnancy, the soldiers came
67:15 and they rescued her and brought her back to her village. And you reckon the
67:20 village will throw open their arms and welcome her back. They saw a big belly.
67:27 when the her grandmother and grandfather took her in and she delivered the baby's a baby girl
67:34 and she called this baby girl Rebecca and she began to love this little girl
67:39 but you know what the grandparents did they called her boo
67:45 haram because the presence of this young girl will always remind them of the atrocities of the injustice of the pain
67:52 and the fact that this girl is useless her child is crash
67:58 because we hate Boo Karam. It was such a difficult time and she was ministered to by World Vision people and
68:05 one day through many months of counseling they put up a cross.
68:11 They asked her to write down all the pain and suffering in a piece of paper.
68:17 And when I pinned that piece of paper to the cross, it felt I was handing all my
68:24 sorrow to God. It felt light within me. When the trainer l later removed all the
68:31 pieces of paper from the cross, he burnt it to ashes. I felt my sorrow and shame
68:38 disappeared, never to come back again. You see,
68:45 she went through a huge ordeal. But the power of the cross is so beautiful that when you lay your sorrows
68:53 and your failings, it is a love of Christ, unimaginable,
68:60 unescribable, that will overwhelm you and make you new. If you have that in the back of
69:06 your mind, the love of God, you will never be lost. Your faith will never fail you because Jesus Christ is praying
69:14 next to the father for you every single one. I don't know what our sins are. I don't know what you suffer. I don't know what your past is. I don't know what
69:20 your future will be. But I only know one thing. You need to trust God. You need
69:25 to believe you are his son. And you need to understand that Jesus will never let you go.
69:32 Let's pray. Father Lord, we just thank you for your word
69:39 for this that despite this event in Genesis chapter 3,
69:46 we will never let you go. Father Lord, we continue to ask that you help us in
69:51 our weak faith to trust you in every situation to realize we are not mere
69:58 mortals. We are chosen of you. We are children of God. We are heirs to the
70:03 kingdom and we have a future because our citizenship is in heaven
70:10 and that you love us and you will never let us go. We pray for all this for Jesus sake. Amen.
