Today we'll look at Hebrews chapter 4, 13 through 16. Let's pray first. Father in heaven, we come to you once again. I pray, God, please give us ears to hear your word. Please, Lord, work as we approach this incredible subject that we approach today. I pray, God, please help us. Deliver us from any distractions in our minds, God, that we would be able to concentrate, be able to believe and apply the things that we hear. In Jesus name, Amen. Look in verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 4. It says this, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him in whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Now, as we read these verses, we see this incredible contrast here. If you take out the middle two verses, and you look at number 13 and number 16, look at it. Look at number 13. It says, neither is there any other creature that is not manifest in sight, but all things are naked and open to him in whom we have to do. Think about it. If God knows, in this verse it's saying, God knows every single thing about us, our intentions, our thoughts, our deeds, our words. If God knows every single detail about us in that way, how condemned are we? How sinful are we? It's incomprehensible. But then look in verse 16. It says, Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. How can someone that is so sinful in 13 come boldly to the throne of grace? And I want to start this by posing a question, how can God, and we should think about this question often, and some of us do, but we need to think about it more, how can God remain holy and allow sinful men and women to come to his throne? How can God remain holy and allow sinful people to come to him? That's the question. Our question needs to be turned around, many ask the question, how can God send people to hell? The real question is, how can God allow anybody in heaven? Because we are all dreadful sinners, whether we like to admit it or not. But verse 13 clearly lets us know that. So let's set the premise by looking first at verse 16, and then we will go back to the preceding verses to answer this question I just asked. and see how we can arrive at this blessed position. The blessed position that I'm speaking of is this coming boldly onto the throne of God. What greater opportunity can a man or woman have than to approach the throne of God with boldness? There is no greater opportunity we have than that. Because this is certainly a paradox, or at least it should be a paradox in our thinking, For certainly the most frightful and horrifying thing for anybody on earth without Jesus Christ should be the approaching of God's throne. The approaching of God's throne. The frighteningness, if that's a word, of approaching God's throne without Jesus Christ cannot even be measured by any fear on earth. If we don't understand this about God, we understand very little about God. Because the most frightful thing for a person who doesn't know Jesus Christ is to approach the throne of God. For often in Scripture, God's throne is directly related to His judgment. Psalm 89.14 says, justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Psalm 97 says, The Lord shall endure forever, for He has prepared His throne for judgment. Psalm 47 8 says, God sits upon His throne of holiness. And holiness speaks of that which is separate from sin. That which is completely separate from sin. God's throne will deal with all sin. We've read this verse a couple of times, but in Hebrews 8.1 it says, But unto the Son, he says, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness as a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, knowing God's holy habitation causes us to ask another question, or possibly the same question we already asked, how can sinful men approach a holy throne? And not just approach it, but approach it with boldness, and not be instantly consumed and sent to eternal judgment. The answer and reality of this question is the greatest privilege and opportunity ever known to man. Or we could say, that the fact that we have an opportunity to come to God's throne to receive mercy and grace so far exceeds any other opportunity on earth. And if a person has never trembled at the thought of approaching God's throne, I don't see how it's possible that that person has any comprehension of the God of the Bible. I'll say that again because I believe it's important. If a person has never trembled at the thought of approaching God's throne, I don't see how they have any comprehension of the God of the Bible. And at the same time, if we have never come boldly to the throne of grace, then we know very little of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. That's what we're going to see today. In verse 13, you have our sinfulness. In verse 16, you have us coming to God boldly, which is a great contrast. But then in the middle, you have 14 and 15. We see how it's possible through Jesus Christ, our High Priest. So today, I would like to answer this question, how can such terrible sinners as ourselves approach God's holy throne with boldness. And with that question in mind, let's go back to verse 13. We've read it twice already, so I won't read it again. But the first part of our question comes from this verse. How can such terrible sinners as ourselves? This part of our question in relation to this verse brings two aspects of our sinfulness to mind. Number one, God knows everything. And number two, in the last part of this verse, you see what it says? It says, of him with whom we have to do. Or we could say, of him to whom we must give an account. We are accountable to God. Listen, this is number two. We are accountable to God in the way that God sees us. Not in the way we see ourselves. So we see those two aspects of our sinfulness here. Number one, God knows everything about us. And number two, men will be judged according to God's knowledge, not according to their own evaluation of themselves. So this part of the question in relation to this brings those two things to mind. In Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10 it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who could know it? But I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. We can all have our hair cut and dress up nice and hide things in our hearts, and I think we all do it to one degree or another, we cannot deny that, but we must realize and learn to live, like I said last week, that God sees the heart and God knows everything that goes on inside of me, down to my very thoughts and motives. My heart, this verse says, is desperately wicked. I can't know my own heart, I can't know my own motives, really, unless God shows me. and even my thoughts. They're twisted. I need God's word and God to show me. Matthew Henry says, excuse me, it is true in general that there is that wickedness in the hearts which we ourselves are not aware of and do not suspect to be there. Nay, it is a common mistake among the children of men to think themselves, their hearts in their own hearts at least, a great deal better than they really are. My friends, we are seeing, we must be seeing through God's eyes, but instead, we talked a little bit about this last night, we're seeing life through our own glasses, and we're seeing ourselves through our own glasses. The flesh sees everything through its own vantage point. The flesh sees everything through its own vantage points. And we are all, by nature, hypocrites. We're all, by nature, hypocrites. We all portray ourselves in the flesh to be somebody that we're not. And we gave the example last night, and I think it's a good example. And if you drive, I think you'll know what I mean. If you pull up to a red light, and you're sitting at the red light, and you're the first one in line, messing with your radio, or you're looking at the map or something, and the light turns green, and the person behind you beeps the horn, and then what do you say? Like, they beep it away angrily, you know, a long horn beep, and you say, come on, give me a break, you know, and then you start going, and then ten minutes later, you're the person that's behind them, and somebody's in front of you, and the light turns green, and what do you do? You say, come on, what are you doing? Move it! You do the same thing that the person did to you, and you condemn that person for doing it. You said, come on, what are you, and you do the same thing. And that's like that in our life in a lot of ways. We do, and it's like Romans chapter 2, 1 and 2. What it says there, that we condemn ourselves by judging others, because we're doing the same exact thing. And by condemning that person, I'm condemning myself, because I do the same thing. And it shows that by nature, We are hypocrites. By nature, we show ourselves to be somebody who we're not. And we need to learn to get out of that. Because you know why? Not for other people's sake, necessarily, but because God knows everything about me. And I can fool other people, and hide secret thoughts, and hide secret motives, and hide secret actions and words. But guess what? You can't hide them before God. It's all the same to God, like I said last week. He says in Psalm 139, the light and the darkness are both the same to God. The thoughts and the deeds are the same to God. He sees them both as the same. It's all daylight to Him. It's all in the open. It's all in the open. We need to learn to live like that and then we won't be hypocrites. Because you know why? Because now, when that person You know how that illustration came to my mind? It actually came to my mind with the turn signal. I told Joe this a couple of weeks ago. My turn signal was out and someone got angry at me because I wasn't using my turn signal. But it was out for a couple of days and then I got it fixed. And then I noticed a couple of days later this guy was coming out of a lock and he wasn't using his turn signal. And I said, I'm not going to let him out because he's not using his turn signal and he should be using his turn signal. And I went in front of him like that. And that's what I thought in my mind. And I said, that's what I went in my head on. I said, oh, I just did. How do I know his blinker's not broken? How do I know there's not something wrong? I'm judging him for the same thing that I do. And that's what actually brought the red light illustration to my mind. But it's true how we do that. We have things, but God knows everything. We do the same things other people do. And then we condemn them. A person cannot perceive himself in proper light without having God search the heart. Without having God search the heart. 1 Chronicles 28-29 says, And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found of thee, but if you forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. I believe the key to this matter of dealing with our hearts is first to know that our perception of ourselves is often distorted, but I also don't think that we should necessarily judge every individual's action necessarily, although that may be helpful at times. follow me. But the bigger question is, am I seeking God in the matters of my life? And am I honestly laying all things before him? There is no way we can never there's no way we can ever know all of our motives. There are times when we may think that we are sincere, and be dishonest. And there may be other times where we may think we're dishonest and be sincere. The question is, are we willing to lay naked before God and to relinquish all that He reveals to us? A Christian is not someone who always has perfect motives, but a Christian is someone who desires with all his heart to be consistently having perfect motives and to be diligently seeking God and His examination and revelation of those motives. in order that we might walk in obedience toward God. Which leads us to another question. This leads us to another question. Why are we not more often led to this God-searching probe of the heart, if we're not? I'm asking that if we're not. But why are we not more led to this God-searching, God-searching our heart I would say that it is primarily a problem of not understanding God's compassion. Well, first I would actually say it's not, it's a false understanding of God's judgment. Then it's a false understanding of God's compassion. In other words, people don't understand that God, even in Romans chapter 2, in other places, in Samuel where it says God judges the heart, not the outward appearance. And people don't understand that God judges even the thoughts and motives of our heart on the day of judgment if we're not one of Christ. So, first it's a misunderstanding of God's judgment, but secondly, I think it's a misunderstanding of God's compassion. It's a misunderstanding of God's desire to help us. That's what we're going to see in these verses 14 and 15. Jesus greatly desires to help us in a very practical way. If I'm struggling with something in my life, and I have a friend who is more apt to condemn me when I fail, I probably won't tell him my problem. But if I have another friend who shows pity and compassion and is willing to help me with my problems, what will I do? I'll go and tell him. So I think it's often our view of God. My friends, who has showed us more pity and compassion than the Lord Jesus Christ? He is touched, it says in verse 15, with the feeling of our infirmities. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. In the New King James it translates that last phrase. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. You see that at the end? Actually, at the beginning of 15, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. This translation reads, which I think is a good translation, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. But something stands out to me in this phrase, and it is this. Why is this spoken of in a negative? Wouldn't it be easier just to say it in a positive way? In other words, why doesn't it read, we have a high priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? Instead, the writer uses a double negative to arrive at a positive. We have not a high priest which cannot be touched, it says. It seems as if he goes out of his way to use the double negative in order to answer a common misperception. Follow me on this. or to answer an argument that would naturally arise in our minds. We see this literary form of reasoning often in the New Testament, especially in Paul's writings, although we're not sure who wrote the book of Romans. But if you read Paul's writings, he'll use negatives to bring out the, like when he says in Romans 1.16, what does he say? He says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. So he's saying he's not ashamed of the gospel because he's assuming that there are people that are ashamed of the gospel. Can you follow me? He's using the word not. And you see that a lot in the Book of Romans, but you see it in other writings, too. It's actually a way of arguing. It's actually a way of assuming a point without making the point. In other words, let me say it like this. Keep following me and you'll get it in a minute. When we or they use the word not, we are taking an opposite position. Therefore, we are assuming an original or a starting position. When I say, that's not what I believe, then I'm assuming what you believe and I'm taking the opposite position. That's what he's doing. In other words, if I was talking to you and said, I don't believe that you can be saved by works, I'm assuming that the person I'm talking to does believe that. And you can look at my last question. The last question I asked us was what? Why do we not more often go to God for him to examine us? That's what I asked you a few minutes ago. Why did I ask it like that? Because I was assuming that that's a problem with us. And I think it is a problem with us. It's a problem with me. Why don't I more often go to God and have Him examine me? So when you use that word not, you're assuming a position and you're taking the opposite. And you're going to see why that's important in a minute. So in verse 15, the writer is assuming that this is a common stumbling block, or that we can easily be led into thinking that our Lord is not touched with the feelings of our infirmities. I would really believe that's why he says not. That's why he uses the double negative. Because we would have the tendency to think that he's not touched. Or at least these Hebrews that he's writing to. We know that. These Hebrews that he's writing to would think that he, that God is not touched with the feelings of their infirmities. Therefore, I believe it applies to us also. But he uses the double negative to make it clear that this is not true, that it's not true. Jesus Christ is very much moved and concerned with the difficulties we have in life. He desires that we come to Him in complete honesty and sincerity, no matter how terrible our sin is. This is what He desires, that we would come to Him. He has great compassion, for we have a great High Priest in Jesus Christ. so far greater than any high priest before him. Great for three reasons in this passage. Number one, he is greater in his performance of his duties as high priest. Number two, he is greater in his position as son, you'll see in this passage. And number three, he is greater in the sense that he has great compassion on his people. And that's what I want you to see. I think that's what's most portrayed in this passage. is that Christ has compassion. The other high priests were just doing their duties. And I'm sure it was very laborious, very bloody. They were doing their duties. Even when they went in once a year, they were doing their obligation for the most part. They weren't doing it primarily because of their compassion for the people. I'm sure they had compassion for the people to some degree, but not like the Lord Jesus. The thing that separates the Lord Jesus Christ from the other high priests, primarily in this passage, is that He is compassionate. He shows us pity. And it's amazing that these verses are here right when 13 is there. Right when 13, we're naked and ugly and just sinful and dark. And then what does Jesus say? He's touched with that. He wants us to come to Him and be honest and not to think that He wants to just knock us down because we've sinned. But He wants us to come to Him to do what? To receive grace and mercy in the time of need. But let's go through these first two points in a quicker way, then we'll hit the third one. First, He's greater in His performance of His duties. We'll get more into that in the future chapters. But here we see that Jesus, our High Priest, has entered into Heaven, it says. And once a year in the Old Testament, the high priest would enter into the holies of holies. But this high priest has entered into the very habitation of God. He has entered into heaven. He is the high priest that has entered into heaven for us. Number two, the sacrifice that he has offered is himself. It is a perfect sacrifice. It is a greater sacrifice. That's what I mean by that Christ is greater in His position as Son, that the sacrifice, He is the sacrifice. In Hebrews 7, 26, it says, For such a high priest became us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. It's amazing that here, As our sacrifice, He is separate from sinners. Jesus Christ is separate from sinners. He's perfect, holy, undefiled. But look at the contrast. It's amazing that here, as the sacrifice separate from sinners, He is a perfect sacrifice. He is holy, but at the same time, as our mediator, He comes right into the mud, as we can say with us. He is not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Many of the past high priests were only performing their duties and obligation, but not this high priest. He performs his duties with great compassion. For those, he has performed it for he has great compassion in his identification with sinners. You see that? He was tempted in all points, like as we are. He's compassionate how? He's compassionate in his identification with sinners. He's compassionate. And I thought about this, as I thought, how is Christ compassionate in identifying with my weaknesses, in my sinfulness, we could say. And I thought about this. Jesus was tempted more than any other. Jesus bled. Have you ever bled before? You got cut? You bleed? I'm sure you have. But have you ever bled through your pores? Have you ever bled through your pores? Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was sweating blood. Have you ever felt rejection? Jesus was rejected by his own family, by his own countrymen. And in the town where he grew up, as soon as his ministry started, they wanted to throw him off a cliff. And he could not even show his face in Jerusalem because he was being hunted. Have you ever been hungry? Jesus fasted for 40 days and then endured a direct attack from Satan. Has anyone ever falsely accused you of something? Jesus was falsely accused in the worst way. They said that he was from the devil. Have you ever had someone in your life who antagonizes you? Whoever it is, you have someone in your life, they just, every time you're around them, they antagonize you. Well, Jesus had people every day in his ministry. Their only purpose was to antagonize him. Have you ever suffered poverty? Jesus grew up in the slums, in one of the poorest towns in all the region. And even in his ministry, he often had nowhere to sleep. When the man in Matthew 8 says, Jesus, I'll follow you, Jesus said, I have the foxes have hole, the birds have nest. But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Even in his ministry, often had nowhere to sleep and very little to eat. Have you ever been tired before? Think of our Lord. He went relentlessly day after day. He would walk anywhere from 10 to 50 miles a day and be thronged by thousands of people. He would teach 4 to 8 hours a day, heal innumerable people. And when the apostles wanted to send the people away, what was Jesus' concern? Twice when He fed the multitudes, His concern was the people. His concern was not for himself. He never see that in the Lord. He never complained. He never was concerned for himself. After all this time, all these thousands of people, he's sleeping probably not long periods of time. And the apostles are like, should we make the people go away? And what does Jesus say? It's been three days and they haven't had anything to eat. He was concerned with them. His first thought was for them. He had no regard for his own physical weakness, but he suffered great. He suffered great. More, I believe. I'd say more than any of us ever will. Any ever will. Have you ever had a headache? Have you ever had a headache? Well, Jesus had a crown of thorns with thorns three to four inches long forced on his head. Did you ever get beat up or pushed around by bullies? I did, actually, in high school, but Jesus got whipped. Jesus got whipped by the Roman soldiers. Have you ever been falsely condemned to death? I don't think any of us have had that. Have you ever been beaten beyond recognition? Have you ever had nails put through your hands and through your feet? The amazing part of it is, through it all, he never opened his mouth. He never complained. He never said, why is this happening to me? He did it, actually, in Hebrews chapter 12, he did it with joy, although it was very difficult, it was not easy. But he did it because he saw the end result. But he never opened his mouth. He suffered temptation. Look what it says in verse 15, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tented like as we are yet without sin. If we think we've been through poverty, rejection, harm, false accusations, if we think we've been through that, we haven't been through anything that Jesus wasn't through 10,000 times more. And He endured it. He did not defend Himself. He did not complain. But He was perfect. He was sinless. He was tempted in all points. The point is, think about it. This is what Christ has done for us. How much compassion does He have for us? How much patience does He have for us that we would come to Him? That we would go to Him, our great High Priest, and see that He wants us to come to Him My friends, we have such a great, so perfect and undefiled High Priest, so compassionate, so compassionate and tender. He's calling us to Himself to come and say, don't hide your sin. Don't hide your sin. Come to Jesus. He wants to help you. That's the point here. Come to Him. Some people will say things to me that will be very rude, and they'll say, what do you think about that? I say, why don't you tell God? Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him what you think. We don't have to hide and make it look like we're somebody we're not. Come to Jesus and let Him know. Don't hide things in your heart, because my friends, you can hide them before people, but you cannot hide them from God. And Christ is compassionate and He wants you to bring it to Him. And He suffered so that you would do that. It says it in verse 14. He suffered so that we would come to Him. So that we would come to Him. It's amazing. Therefore, look at verse 16. It's the therefore. Therefore, in verse 16, come boldly unto the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Therefore, if we come to God's throne through Jesus Christ, it goes from a throne of judgment to a throne of grace. There's the answer to our question. How can a sinful man approach a holy God? Or how can God remain holy and allow sinners into heaven? It's through our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. It's through Him that He is undefiled and He performs His duties as High Priest in perfection and He is the sacrifice and He is compassionate and He wants you to come to Him that we might avoid the throne of judgment and come to this throne of grace. What do you get at this throne of grace? It says there, mercy and grace. mercy and grace. Mercy is that we don't get what we do deserve. Mercy is we don't get what we do deserve. It's like if you go to court, you're guilty, and you say, I throw myself at the mercy of the court. And the judge, if he has the authority, he can say, he can grant mercy. That means you don't get what you do deserve. So there's mercy there. And there's grace. Grace is that you do get what you don't deserve. Mercy takes away our sin, and grace gives us Christ's righteousness. I think that's the greatest explanation of mercy and grace. Mercy takes away our sin. But most people don't get the grace in Romans 5. It says, what does it say? That Christ's righteousness in 5.18 of Romans is a gift of grace. It's a gift of grace. So God takes away our sin, and that's mercy. But what does He do? He gives us Christ's righteousness. So today, a lot of people know Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but I fear they don't know that those who believe have the imputed righteousness of Christ. That means today I can say I am perfect in Christ. I can stand holy and righteous in Christ because of what He's given to me, and that's by grace. Mercy puts an end to our old life, and grace gives us a new life through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Mercy shows me how insufficient my love is, but grace gives me Christ's love to love others with. Oh, we are in such great need of God's mercy. In Psalm 136, 26 times it says, His mercy endures forever. And we just read that this week, some of us in our reading program. But His mercy endures forever, 26 times. Come to the throne of grace through our great high priest, Jesus Christ, and receive mercy and grace that goes on forever and ever. And it's just amazing, God's compassion towards us. And when I think about this, it reminds me, let's close, let's turn to Psalm 139. I know my brother read this about a month ago, but when he read it, it struck me so deep. Psalm 139, this is exactly Psalm 139 is exactly what we're talking about. Listen to the similarities in this Psalm between what we just read in Hebrews and what we're going to read here in Psalm 139. What you'll find out about the book of Hebrews, at least what I'll find out about the book of Hebrews, most of it comes from the book of Psalms. I'll find out over and over again. I keep going back to the Psalms. You see, at the beginning of the sermon, I had a bunch of Psalms right now. And in these verses, you'll find that Hebrews is very closely connected to the book of Psalms. Look in, let's just read the whole thing. I say, you see the similarities. Look at it. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. There it is. That's like verse 13 in Hebrews 4. Thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compass my path and my lying down. and are acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue, but thou, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thine hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day, and the darkness as the light are both alike for Thee. For Thou has possessed my reins and has covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which as a continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are as the number of the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou shalt slay the wicked, O God. Depart from therefore ye the bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies that take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, and am not I grieved with those that arise against thee. I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them as mine enemies. Search me, O God. This is it. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting." But we can come to that last part of this chapter, when you see the first part, when you see how God knows us. I mean, He was there when I was in my mother's womb. He knows every day I walked on this earth, and how He leads me and guides me, and how precious that is. And when we know God, and we see Christ, I think when we see Christ in Hebrews, especially in verse 15, how He was tempted in all points like as we are, except to a greater degree, I would say, We can see that He wants us. If He did that for us, if He has that much compassion for us, certainly He wants us to come to Him. Certainly He wants us to come to Him and find that grace and that boldness at the throne of God's grace. And so I just pray that that would be real to us today, that we would see the tenderness of Christ and how He seeks how he sees everything, but at the same time he sees everything, not because he wants to destroy us, because he wants us to come out of it and find that there's real liberty, real peace, real love in him. That's where it's found. So let's pray. Dear Father, I thank you for your words. I thank you for your son Jesus, how we can see how he suffered so greatly. He suffered all these temptations. that he would identify with us and that he would be the perfect sacrifice. I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you suffered all temptations and never complained, never defended yourself, never looked out for yourself. You always had your Father's will in mind and the needs of others. I pray, God, that that same spirit would be in us, Lord Jesus, that we would grow up into you, Lord Jesus. and that we would come to you naked, undone, and say, Lord, search me and cleanse me and do the work that I need done in my heart. I pray, Lord, we would all come to you in honesty and sincerity, that hypocrisy would be put away. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.