WEBVTT 00:00:01.160 --> 00:00:05.160 So how's lent going? Maybe some of you may have 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.780 let go of something during the lent sacrifice 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:13.599 But maybe have you already started to maybe renegotiate 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.019 Maybe you've decided. Hey, you know what? I didn't 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:18.739 really need to give this up for lent Maybe I 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:20.519 could just kind of change it up a little bit. 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:23.460 Would that be okay? Or you were adjusting it 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.399 because you said, you know, it's just not quite 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:29.359 that doable after all or Maybe you were just 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:31.570 deciding you know what? I'm just going to go 00:00:31.570 --> 00:00:33.689 ahead and give this one up this year. I will 00:00:33.689 --> 00:00:38.869 try again next time. How many times that it's 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:40.810 something we decided we were going to let go 00:00:40.810 --> 00:00:43.710 of during Lent, and yet we're the ones who decide 00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:45.450 that we're not going to follow through after 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:49.530 all. It's remarkable how quickly that we discover 00:00:49.530 --> 00:00:53.030 something about ourselves. The moment we say, 00:00:53.929 --> 00:00:58.030 I'm not going to have this thing here. That's 00:00:58.030 --> 00:01:01.409 the very thing that seems to glow brighter. The 00:01:01.409 --> 00:01:04.290 dessert tastes a little bit better whenever it's 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:07.250 forbidden. The phone feels a little heavier in 00:01:07.250 --> 00:01:09.689 our pockets when we've promised that we're not 00:01:09.689 --> 00:01:12.750 going to check it. The boundary just kind of 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:18.030 sits there, but it hums from our pockets. See, 00:01:18.049 --> 00:01:21.069 there is something in us that reacts to the word 00:01:21.069 --> 00:01:26.780 no, like dry timbers reacting to a spark. See, 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:29.480 Paul wrestles with that in Romans 7. He says 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.500 he would not have known coveting if the law had 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:35.939 not said do not covet. The commandment that was 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:39.239 meant for life somehow becomes an opportunity 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:43.640 for sin. The line in the sand doesn't just reveal 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:48.260 the problem. Somehow it seems to stir it. Why 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:52.819 is that? Why does being told not to reach for 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:57.319 something make us want it? even more. See, the 00:01:57.319 --> 00:01:59.260 question though, it's older than Lent and it's 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:02.879 older than Paul, it takes us back to a garden. 00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:07.480 In Genesis 3, everything is given except for 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:11.939 one tree. Abundance is everywhere, all these 00:02:11.939 --> 00:02:14.020 fruits, all these vegetables, all these things 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:18.659 that are out there, but one boundary, and suddenly 00:02:18.659 --> 00:02:22.319 that one tree becomes the center of attention. 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.840 Centuries later, we're going to be looking at 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:31.620 the wilderness in Matthew 4, not a garden, not 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:35.539 abundance, just hunger. But again, there will 00:02:35.539 --> 00:02:39.039 be a voice that is whispering about bread, power, 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:42.800 and shortcuts. Two moments in our message today, 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:46.439 two temptations, two humanities that are standing 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:50.560 in the balance, and somewhere between that garden 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:54.669 and that wilderness. is the explanation for why 00:02:54.669 --> 00:02:58.949 Lent exposes us so quickly and why our hope cannot 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:03.389 possibly rest on our own willpower. When we step 00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:05.509 into the garden, we need to start with something 00:03:05.509 --> 00:03:12.270 very simple. What did God actually say? God did 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:16.710 not give Adam and Eve a maze of regulations. 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:20.900 He did not bury them under fine print to trick 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:24.780 them into breaking a contract. In Genesis 2, 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:28.419 God gave one clear command. You may eat from 00:03:28.419 --> 00:03:30.879 every tree in the garden, but from the tree of 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.460 the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:37.860 eat. It's one boundary. In a world of abundance. 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:42.419 But listen carefully to Eve's response in Genesis 00:03:42.419 --> 00:03:46.300 3 when the snake asks her about the command. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.650 She says, We may eat of the fruit of the trees 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:52.930 in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat 00:03:52.930 --> 00:03:55.550 of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst 00:03:55.550 --> 00:03:59.289 of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest 00:03:59.289 --> 00:04:06.030 you die. But God never said, do not touch it. 00:04:06.590 --> 00:04:10.949 Okay, already something has shifted. The command 00:04:10.949 --> 00:04:15.990 has grown sharper, heavier. It's been expounded. 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.519 That tells us something. Because then the issue 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:24.540 was not a lack of clarity from God. The issue 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:27.220 was something beginning to stir within the human 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:32.379 heart. The boundary felt restrictive. The command? 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:36.920 It felt suspect. The goodness of God was being 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.240 quietly questioned, and it made the command feel 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:44.750 even harder to follow. When we think about how 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:48.209 difficult it seems we sometimes assume Adam and 00:04:48.209 --> 00:04:51.629 Eve were set up to fail Because if we're honest 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:55.569 that is how life often feels to us Temptation 00:04:55.569 --> 00:04:59.990 it feels overwhelming obedience feels uphill 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:04.670 We think of course they ate the fruit who wouldn't 00:05:04.670 --> 00:05:07.610 But they're not in the same condition that we 00:05:07.610 --> 00:05:11.730 are We are born subject to sin. They were not 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:15.310 We wake up each morning with desires that are 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:20.949 bent inward They did not We fight impulses that 00:05:20.949 --> 00:05:25.290 we did not choose to have They were created upright 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:30.810 free able not to sin and Yet, they still chose 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:35.790 it That is what makes the fall so weighty. This 00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:39.290 was not weakness because of corruption. This 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:43.730 was rebellion within freedom. They had every 00:05:43.730 --> 00:05:46.769 capacity to trust the Word of God. And instead, 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:50.930 they trusted the whispering of questioning and 00:05:50.930 --> 00:05:55.629 temptation. And when they did, something catastrophic 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:59.069 happened. Original sin is not just that Adam 00:05:59.069 --> 00:06:02.410 and Eve committed the first bad act. It is that 00:06:02.410 --> 00:06:07.970 their fall bent the entire human race. Scripture 00:06:07.970 --> 00:06:10.629 teaches that we are born into that corruption. 00:06:11.230 --> 00:06:15.089 It's not neutral, not spiritually blank slates, 00:06:15.209 --> 00:06:19.569 but we're already curved away from God. That 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:22.509 means that sin is not just imitating those first 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:27.589 parents. It's our inheritance. We're not sinners 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:34.329 as a result of our sins. We sin as a result of 00:06:34.329 --> 00:06:39.329 being sinners. We inherit a nature that is corrupted 00:06:39.329 --> 00:06:43.050 a will that distrusts God a heart that wants 00:06:43.050 --> 00:06:47.870 our own ways That's why lent feels so exposing 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:52.389 because when we try to discipline ourselves We 00:06:52.389 --> 00:06:56.329 discover something unsettling The resistance 00:06:56.329 --> 00:07:01.149 is not outside of us. It is within us It shows 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:04.589 up when forgiveness feels optional, but resentment 00:07:04.589 --> 00:07:09.029 feels justified It shows up when we pray for 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:13.689 God's will, but quietly we prefer our own timeline. 00:07:14.870 --> 00:07:18.930 It shows up when we replay conversations in our 00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:22.490 head instead of releasing them in forgiveness. 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:26.790 It shows up when we justify our impatience because 00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:30.389 we feel overworked. It shows up in the quiet 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:33.610 confidence that we would have handled the Garden 00:07:33.610 --> 00:07:37.160 of Eden better. We sometimes struggle with that 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.759 idea of inheriting something broken. We ask, 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.680 how can I be affected by something someone else 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:49.199 did? And yet we understand inheritance everywhere 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.100 else. Children inherit physical traits without 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:57.720 choosing them. Eye color, bone structure, predispositions 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:02.399 to certain diseases. Scientists even talk about 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:07.129 inherited patterns of behavior in animals. A 00:08:07.129 --> 00:08:10.250 puppy immediately born into the world already 00:08:10.250 --> 00:08:14.850 knows how to root for milk. A sea turtle hatched 00:08:14.850 --> 00:08:18.829 on a beach somehow knows to move out to the ocean. 00:08:19.910 --> 00:08:23.129 Instinct is passed down. Patterns are embedded. 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:26.930 If we understand that physical life carries inherited 00:08:26.930 --> 00:08:31.379 traits, why is it so strange? to think that spiritual 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:35.759 life does as well. We are born into Adam's line, 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:40.080 and Adam's line is fallen. This corruption does 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:43.039 not only touch our souls though, it ripples through 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.720 creation itself. Our bodies break down and don't 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:52.159 behave as God intended, our minds misfire, the 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:55.419 ground resists gardening, the relationships we 00:08:55.419 --> 00:08:59.039 have fracture, even the world groans under decay. 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:03.549 Death was not part of the original design. Disorder 00:09:03.549 --> 00:09:06.029 was not part of the original design. But now 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:10.250 both are woven into our daily experience. We 00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:13.250 do not sin merely because we imitate Adam. We 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:17.950 sin because we are born from him. And that is 00:09:17.950 --> 00:09:21.830 why we cannot fix ourselves. If the problem were 00:09:21.830 --> 00:09:25.610 only behavior, we could try harder. If the problem 00:09:25.610 --> 00:09:28.570 were only environment, we could change that. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:33.480 But the problem is inheritance. The problem is 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:38.220 nature. Which means a solution cannot come from 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:42.779 within Adam's line. It has to come from outside 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:46.779 it. Now this scene shifts from a garden that 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:52.080 is lush with fruit to a bare wilderness. From 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:55.960 shade and abundance to sin and hunger. From Adam 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.919 standing beside a tree to Jesus standing in dust. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:04.120 The first Adam faces a simple boundary and pushes 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:09.000 past it. Jesus faces real hunger, real weakness, 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:12.460 real temptation, but he follows what's right. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.320 And we have to ask why does it matter though 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:19.340 so much for Jesus to say no to these things? 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:23.980 Because Satan's temptations, they're not ridiculous. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.480 They're pretty reasonable. You're hungry? Well, 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:31.720 turn stones into bread. I mean, what's the big 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:35.919 deal? Or prove to everyone who you are so they 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:39.200 can follow you. Just jump from the temple and 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.059 let the angels catch you. You will silence all 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:45.919 the doubters. Or take the kingdoms of the world 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.539 without having to go to the cross. Rule now and 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:54.940 just skip the suffering. Each temptation whispers 00:10:54.940 --> 00:10:59.840 the same line spoken in the Garden of Eden. You 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:03.279 can have the good things without trusting the 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.519 Father. You can grasp it. You can secure it for 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:13.779 yourself. But Jesus refuses. Why? Because there 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:17.139 was a purpose for being in the wilderness. There 00:11:17.139 --> 00:11:20.059 was a reason for fasting. There was a reason 00:11:20.059 --> 00:11:23.820 for hunger. Jesus was not wandering aimlessly. 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.259 He was preparing for the journey to come. He 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:30.580 was consecrating himself to the Father's will. 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:35.899 The deprivation was not pointless. It was forming 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:39.360 him for what was to come next. And that's part 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.279 of what Lent is training us for. Because when 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:46.200 we let something go, it's not because that thing 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:50.879 is always evil. Bread is not evil. Food is not 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:54.730 evil. Sweets are not evil. What you enjoy to 00:11:54.730 --> 00:11:59.049 drink is not evil. Comfort is not evil. The issue 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:02.409 is whether we believe we need them more than 00:12:02.409 --> 00:12:06.470 we need the Father. You see, Lent peels back 00:12:06.470 --> 00:12:08.690 our illusions about the things that we want. 00:12:09.029 --> 00:12:14.029 It reveals how quickly we justify getting them. 00:12:14.450 --> 00:12:17.529 How easily we say, what's the big deal? Just 00:12:17.529 --> 00:12:21.450 this once, right? Just a little compromise. Just 00:12:21.450 --> 00:12:25.250 one shortcut. Jesus stands in the wilderness 00:12:25.250 --> 00:12:31.470 and says no where Adam said yes. But he is not 00:12:31.470 --> 00:12:35.029 resisting as someone born into Adam's corruption. 00:12:35.809 --> 00:12:39.250 Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus enters humanity 00:12:39.250 --> 00:12:44.129 without inheriting its bent. He is not dragged 00:12:44.129 --> 00:12:47.870 by some inward rebellion. Jesus stands free. 00:12:48.730 --> 00:12:52.710 And sometimes that bothers us. Of course he resisted 00:12:52.710 --> 00:12:57.990 temptation. He's God. That's not fair. But think 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:01.269 about what we're actually saying. Imagine you're 00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:03.750 drowning in a river. The current is stronger 00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:06.730 than you thought. Your limbs are giving out. 00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:10.649 You cannot reach the bank. And then someone on 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:14.649 solid ground throws you a line, braces themselves, 00:13:15.230 --> 00:13:17.750 and pulls you out. And once you are coughing 00:13:17.750 --> 00:13:21.679 on the shore, you shout out, That's not fair. 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:23.820 That doesn't count. You weren't drowning like 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:32.100 I was. Wouldn't that be absurd? You don't need 00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:36.000 another drowning victim. You need someone standing 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.980 where the current cannot sweep them away. But 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:42.139 you see, the only person who truly knows the 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:45.159 strength of temptation is the one who never gives 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:49.779 in and never had to deal in the same. in the 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:55.179 first place. The one who never gives in, but 00:13:55.179 --> 00:14:00.500 never had to be one weak enough to give in. The 00:14:00.500 --> 00:14:05.059 one who resists feels the full force, while the 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:09.539 one who surrendered never did. Jesus does not 00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:12.679 resist temptation because temptation is easy. 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:16.000 He resists because he is strong in obedience. 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:19.980 He is strong in trust. strong in love for the 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:23.000 Father. And here is where the Gospel beats for 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.559 us, because He did it for us. He didn't need 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.720 to go through it in the first place for Himself. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.919 The first Adam stood in a garden bursting with 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:38.480 life, and he reached for what was not given to 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.820 him. And in that reaching, everything cracked. 00:14:42.379 --> 00:14:45.159 Death entered, corruption spread, the ground 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:50.659 resisted. The body decayed. The soul focused 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:54.379 on itself. And we protest. It's not fair. Why 00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:58.559 should we be subject to what they did? But if 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:01.960 we're honest, what confidence do we really have 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.200 that we would have done better? We struggle daily 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:09.940 to trust God with far smaller commands. We rationalize. 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:13.779 We soften boundaries. We adjust the wording, 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:17.700 just like Eve did. we explain away rebellion 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:21.399 in ourselves while condemning theirs. If anything, 00:15:21.820 --> 00:15:25.720 our attempts to justify Adam and Eve reveal how 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:29.960 deeply their condition lives in us. So the issue 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:33.320 was never fairness. If God were concerned with 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:36.600 strict fairness, the story would have ended in 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:40.779 Genesis 3. Instead, from that very moment of 00:15:40.779 --> 00:15:45.220 the fall, God was already speaking promise. Already 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:49.159 clothing, shame, already marking out a people. 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:54.279 Already weaving mercy into history. Faith has 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:57.700 always been the thread. Trust in His Word has 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:00.799 always been the way. And then the Word became 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:05.960 flesh and dwelt among us. Not to observe, not 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:09.320 to sympathize from a distance, but to stand where 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:13.440 Adam fell. Jesus enters the wilderness as the 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:16.879 second Adam. Where the first Adam grasped, the 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.480 second Adam refused. Where the first doubted, 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.960 Jesus trusts. Where the first chose himself, 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:27.899 Jesus chose the Father. And he does not stop 00:16:27.899 --> 00:16:30.940 at just resisting bread, spectacle, and power. 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:35.440 He goes all the way to the cross. You see, we 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.899 were carried by a current that we could not fight. 00:16:39.110 --> 00:16:44.750 Christ stands on ground Conceived by the Holy 00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:50.549 Spirit not born under Adam's corruption He faces 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:55.190 temptation without bending towards sin. He feels 00:16:55.190 --> 00:16:59.070 its full force and does not yield So when he 00:16:59.070 --> 00:17:01.269 pulls us from the water, we do not accuse him 00:17:01.269 --> 00:17:05.509 for not drowning We thank him for not drowning 00:17:05.509 --> 00:17:09.259 ourselves Because now there is a new inheritance. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.460 We inherited corruption from the first Adam without 00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:17.319 asking for it. We inherit righteousness from 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:21.779 the second Adam by faith. The first passed down 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:26.200 death, the second passes down life. The first 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.019 handed us condemnation, the second gives us his 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:33.940 obedience. Created and credited to us as if it 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:38.920 were our own. This is not fairness. It's grace. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:44.819 Fair would have left us in the river. Grace sends 00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:48.700 us the sun. And that reshapes how we see Lent. 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:52.019 When we let something go, it is not a competition 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:55.660 with other believers. It is not a spiritual scoreboard. 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.400 It is not about who sacrifices more or who struggles 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:03.950 less. We are not measuring fairness. We're training 00:18:03.950 --> 00:18:08.509 our hearts. We let go during this season of Lent 00:18:08.509 --> 00:18:11.430 of the unimportant things to remember who truly 00:18:11.430 --> 00:18:15.950 never lets go of us. We fast not to impress God, 00:18:16.490 --> 00:18:19.549 but to expose our illusion of always being filled. 00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:23.430 We surrender comforts to learn that comfort was 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:26.890 never the Savior. We feel the ache so we can 00:18:26.890 --> 00:18:30.329 rediscover the deeper satisfaction that has already 00:18:30.329 --> 00:18:33.970 been secured for us in Christ. Some of us wrestle 00:18:33.970 --> 00:18:38.190 with temptations that others do not Some of us 00:18:38.190 --> 00:18:41.009 have addictions and burdens that feel uniquely 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:47.109 heavy to us and again the whisper It's not fair 00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:53.210 No No, it's not But neither is the cross Neither 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:55.990 is a righteousness that we did not earn neither 00:18:55.990 --> 00:18:59.630 is an inheritance that we did not secure Neither 00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:02.190 is eternal life that's given freely to those 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:06.279 who trust. We are not walking this wilderness 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:09.500 alone. The second Adam has already walked it. 00:19:09.500 --> 00:19:13.359 He has already won. And by faith, his victory 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:17.880 is ours. You are not in the wilderness trying 00:19:17.880 --> 00:19:21.660 to win something. You are there because Christ 00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:25.519 has already won everything. You are not negotiating 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.559 an inheritance. You already have one. You're 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.000 not fighting for righteousness. You've already 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:34.460 been given righteousness. So when Lent exposes 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:38.519 you, it does not threaten. It reminds you who 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.559 your Adam truly is. Because the first Adam brought 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:46.519 death, but the second Adam gives you life. His 00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:49.579 victory is not fragile. It doesn't fall away 00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:53.099 when you stumble. It is completely yours. So 00:19:53.099 --> 00:19:55.859 in this season of letting go of the things we 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:59.779 do not need, may we cling more tightly to Christ. 00:20:00.190 --> 00:20:04.089 Not to our strength, not to our discipline, not 00:20:04.089 --> 00:20:08.170 to our performance, but to him. Because the one 00:20:08.170 --> 00:20:11.650 who stood in the wilderness for you still stands 00:20:11.650 --> 00:20:15.349 for you even now. Thanks be to God.