WEBVTT 00:00:01.390 --> 00:00:06.549 So how's Lent going? Yeah, yeah. How many of 00:00:06.549 --> 00:00:08.369 you are still like, yeah, I'll let that go by 00:00:08.369 --> 00:00:12.890 Thursday, right? Have you already renegotiated 00:00:12.890 --> 00:00:16.449 the Lenten sacrifice? You know, well, I was gonna 00:00:16.449 --> 00:00:18.250 give up all sweets, but maybe I'll just give 00:00:18.250 --> 00:00:22.329 up cake. Well, maybe I'll just give up birthday 00:00:22.329 --> 00:00:25.289 cake. Maybe I'll just give up my 40th birthday 00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:29.309 cake that you already ate three years ago. Have 00:00:29.309 --> 00:00:33.979 you adjusted? Have you quietly redefined giving 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:38.340 up? See, it's remarkable what we discover during 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:41.140 these times with the Lenten sacrifices. See, 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:44.600 the moment that we say, I'm not going to have 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.920 that during this season, that's the very thing 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.020 that catches our attention every single day. 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.399 The dessert tastes better when it's forbidden. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.979 The phone feels a little heavier in our pocket 00:00:56.979 --> 00:01:00.840 whenever we promise not to check it. The boundary, 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:05.500 it doesn't just sit there, it hums and calls 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:09.939 us. There's something in us that reacts to the 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.459 word no the same way that dry timber reacts to 00:01:14.459 --> 00:01:17.719 a spark. See, Paul wrestles with that in Romans 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.140 7. He says he would not have known coveting if 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:25.239 the law had not said, do not covet. The commandment 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.819 that was meant for life somehow became an opportunity 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:32.099 for sin. The line in the sand, it doesn't just 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:35.620 reveal the problem. It actually seems to stir 00:01:35.620 --> 00:01:41.700 it up. And why is that? Why does being told no 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:45.379 to something make us want to reach out to it 00:01:45.379 --> 00:01:49.500 even more? See, that question, it's older than 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:53.819 Lent. It's older than Paul. It goes back to a 00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:58.299 garden. See, in Genesis 3, everything is given. 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:02.819 except for one tree. There's abundance everywhere. 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:06.780 Countless trees, countless fruit, countless vegetables, 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:11.419 countless everything. But there's one. One boundary. 00:02:12.659 --> 00:02:15.300 And somehow, that becomes the tree that gets 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:18.659 everybody's attention. I mean, how many amazing 00:02:18.659 --> 00:02:22.759 trees must there have been? The tree of kindness, 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:27.189 or the tree of good hope. or the tree of saying 00:02:27.189 --> 00:02:29.150 nice things to other people. Nobody cares about 00:02:29.150 --> 00:02:31.729 those trees. Something about the knowledge of 00:02:31.729 --> 00:02:34.469 good and evil is the one that always catches 00:02:34.469 --> 00:02:37.389 because that's the one we're supposed to avoid. 00:02:38.909 --> 00:02:42.550 But you see, these temptations, we discover that 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:46.650 humanity has been hanging in the balance. You 00:02:46.650 --> 00:02:49.210 see, when we step into the Garden of Eden, we 00:02:49.210 --> 00:02:53.189 need to start with something very simple. What 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:57.740 did God actually say? Like, God did not give 00:02:57.740 --> 00:03:01.460 Adam and Eve a maze of regulations. This was 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:05.900 not complicated. He did not bury them under fine 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:08.919 print like an apple contract, trying to trick 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.819 them into breaking it somehow. In Genesis 2, 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:16.620 he gives one clear command. You may eat from 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:19.400 every tree in the garden, but from the tree of 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:21.500 the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:25.300 eat. That's it. One boundary. world of abundance. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:30.879 And then listen to Eve's response in the next 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.659 chapter. When the snake asks her about the command, 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:39.400 she says, well, we may eat of the fruit of the 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:42.199 trees in the garden, but God said, you shall 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:44.479 not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.379 midst of the garden, neither shall you touch 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:54.729 it lest you die. Hold on. Just one moment. God 00:03:54.729 --> 00:03:57.250 never said do not touch it. Don't you hate it 00:03:57.250 --> 00:03:59.650 whenever someone puts words in your mouth that 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:04.009 you know you did not say? And something has already 00:04:04.009 --> 00:04:07.669 shifted because what it does is it proves something 00:04:07.669 --> 00:04:10.990 inside of that person. You see the command has 00:04:10.990 --> 00:04:15.490 grown sharper, heavier. It's been expanded. It 00:04:15.490 --> 00:04:19.189 tells us not a lack of clarity on God's part. 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.019 It tells us something that was stirring in the 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:27.800 hearts of those people. The boundary, it felt 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:31.699 restrictive. The command was suspect, and the 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:35.420 goodness of God was being quietly questioned 00:04:35.420 --> 00:04:41.139 and making the command harder to follow. You 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:43.620 know, when we think about how difficult it seems, 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.000 you know, we sometimes assume that Adam and Eve, 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.160 we sometimes assume they were set up to fail. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.540 If we're honest, that's how life often feels 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:57.199 to us when temptations they feel Overwhelming 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.480 it's like it's right there The obedience it's 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:04.759 it's uphill somehow and we think of course eat 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.699 it who wouldn't come on But they're not the same 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:12.459 condition that we are We are born subject to 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:16.180 sin. They were not We wake up each morning with 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:22.149 our desires bent inward They did not We fight 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:25.370 impulses. We did not choose to have they were 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:30.269 created upright free able not to sin and yet 00:05:30.269 --> 00:05:35.189 They still chose to That is what makes the fall 00:05:35.189 --> 00:05:38.810 so weighty This was not weakness from corruption. 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:43.670 This was rebellion inside of freedom They had 00:05:43.670 --> 00:05:47.389 every capacity to trust God's Word and instead 00:05:47.689 --> 00:05:52.209 they trusted the whisper of questioning and temptation. 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:57.129 And when they did, something catastrophic happened. 00:05:58.009 --> 00:06:01.170 Because original sin, it's not just that Adam 00:06:01.170 --> 00:06:05.689 and Eve committed the first bad act. It's their 00:06:05.689 --> 00:06:11.029 fall bent the entire human race. Scripture teaches 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:13.529 that we are born into that corruption. We're 00:06:13.529 --> 00:06:19.300 not neutral. We're not just spiritual blank slates. 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.579 We're already curved away from God from the beginning. 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:26.860 That means that sin, it's not just the way that 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:30.300 we imitate those first parents. It's what we 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:34.319 inherit from them. You see, we are not sinners 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:40.240 as a result of our sins. We sin as a result of 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:45.110 being sinners. We inherit a nature that has corrupted 00:06:45.110 --> 00:06:48.889 a will that distrusts God and a heart that wants 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:53.129 our own ways. See, that's why Lent is so exposing, 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:56.709 because when we try to discipline ourselves and 00:06:56.709 --> 00:07:00.629 tell ourselves no to something, we discover something 00:07:00.629 --> 00:07:05.269 very unsettling. The resistance to God, it's 00:07:05.269 --> 00:07:10.750 not outside, it's within us. It shows up when 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:15.430 forgiveness feels optional But resentment feels 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:19.149 justified. That rebellion, that resistance shows 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:22.610 up when we pray for God's will, but quietly we 00:07:22.610 --> 00:07:25.910 kind of prefer our own timeline. It shows up 00:07:25.910 --> 00:07:28.970 when we replay conversations over and over in 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:32.310 our head instead of releasing them to forgive. 00:07:33.569 --> 00:07:37.949 It shows up when we justify being impatient because 00:07:37.949 --> 00:07:42.209 we feel overworked. It shows up in the quiet. 00:07:43.850 --> 00:07:46.290 confidence that we would have handled the Garden 00:07:46.290 --> 00:07:50.930 of Eden better. You know, we sometimes struggle 00:07:50.930 --> 00:07:53.170 with that idea. You know, the idea that we've 00:07:53.170 --> 00:07:56.110 inherited something broken. You know, we ask, 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:59.170 how can I be affected by something someone else 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:03.810 did? But we understand inheritance and everything 00:08:03.810 --> 00:08:07.350 else, don't we? Children inherit physical traits 00:08:07.350 --> 00:08:10.269 without choosing them. Eye color, bone structure, 00:08:10.689 --> 00:08:13.750 predispositions to certain diseases, thank you 00:08:13.750 --> 00:08:18.110 dad for cholesterol. Scientists, they even talk 00:08:18.110 --> 00:08:21.069 about inherited patterns of behavior in animals. 00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:23.949 You know, the puppies, they're born and they 00:08:23.949 --> 00:08:26.389 already start trying to root around for milk 00:08:26.389 --> 00:08:28.889 from their mom. And then the sea turtles, you 00:08:28.889 --> 00:08:31.129 know, you see them flapping around on the beach, 00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:33.629 you know, and they already start going toward 00:08:33.629 --> 00:08:37.450 the ocean. How did they know to do that? Instinct 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:41.429 is passed down. Patterns are embedded. But if 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:45.529 we understand that physical life can carry inherited 00:08:45.529 --> 00:08:49.009 traits, why is it so strange to think that spiritual 00:08:49.009 --> 00:08:53.049 life does well? We are born into Adam's line. 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:57.970 Adam's line? It's fallen. This corruption, it 00:08:57.970 --> 00:09:00.649 doesn't just touch our souls, though. It ripples 00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:04.750 through all of creation. Our bodies break down 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:07.769 and frankly, they do not behave the way that 00:09:07.769 --> 00:09:12.029 God intended. Our minds misfire. How many struggles 00:09:12.029 --> 00:09:14.950 that we have psychologically that we cannot seem 00:09:14.950 --> 00:09:18.809 to get past. The ground resists gardening. Our 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.990 relationships fracture. The world groans under 00:09:21.990 --> 00:09:25.529 decay. Death was not part of the original design. 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:28.970 Disorder was not part of the original design. 00:09:29.710 --> 00:09:32.590 Both are now woven into our daily experience. 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:36.169 See, we don't sin merely because we imitate Adam. 00:09:36.210 --> 00:09:39.250 We sin because we're born from him. And that's 00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:42.009 why we cannot fix ourselves. You see, if the 00:09:42.009 --> 00:09:44.850 problem were just behavior, we could try harder, 00:09:45.649 --> 00:09:48.690 work more. If the problem was only our environment, 00:09:49.049 --> 00:09:52.690 well, let's just move. But the problem is inheritance. 00:09:53.929 --> 00:09:56.629 The problem is nature, which means the solution 00:09:56.629 --> 00:10:00.480 cannot come from within. in Adam's line, it has 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:05.320 to come from outside. So now, though, let's step 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:08.159 away from that garden for a moment. Let's go 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.480 to the complete opposite. We find ourselves in 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:14.440 a bare wilderness, leaving shade and abundance 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:18.659 for sun and hunger. And instead of Adam standing 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:21.940 beside a tree, Jesus is standing in the dust. 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:25.500 You see, the first Adam, he had a single boundary 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:29.509 and still pushed past it. But there's Jesus. 00:10:30.090 --> 00:10:33.789 He's facing real hunger, real weakness, real 00:10:33.789 --> 00:10:37.269 temptation, and He's still following what's right. 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:41.789 And so we have to ask, why does it matter so 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:46.690 much for Jesus to say no to these things? Because, 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:49.850 let's be honest, saints' temptations, they're 00:10:49.850 --> 00:10:52.789 actually not ridiculous. They actually, you read 00:10:52.789 --> 00:10:57.809 them, they seem kind of reasonable. See, You're 00:10:57.809 --> 00:11:00.850 hungry Jesus. There's a stone. Just turn it into 00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:04.629 bread seems pretty simple, right? What's the 00:11:04.629 --> 00:11:09.129 big deal or? Just prove to everybody who you 00:11:09.129 --> 00:11:12.490 are right look you just jump from the temple 00:11:12.490 --> 00:11:16.429 the angels will catch you you can silence all 00:11:16.429 --> 00:11:22.070 the doubters or Even if you just take the kingdoms 00:11:22.070 --> 00:11:26.629 of the world now without going to the cross just 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:29.309 Just rule over everything already. You don't 00:11:29.309 --> 00:11:33.289 have to suffer. See, every temptation, though, 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:37.809 it's whispering the same lie that we heard in 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:42.809 Eden. You can have the good things without trusting 00:11:42.809 --> 00:11:46.690 the Father. You can grasp it. You can secure 00:11:46.690 --> 00:11:49.950 it for yourself. And what does Jesus do? He refuses. 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:56.259 Why? There was a reason He was there. There was 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.919 a purpose to being in the wilderness. If he was 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:00.639 really hungry, he would have never gone out there 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.639 in the first place. Look, a reason for the fasting, 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:07.460 a reason for the hunger. He was not wandering 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:11.200 aimlessly. This was not a mistake. He was preparing 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.779 for the journey that was about to come. He was 00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:19.679 consecrating himself to the Father's will. The 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:24.000 deprivation, denying what he wanted, was not 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.590 pointless. It was forming him for what was to 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:31.570 come next. And that's what Lent is supposed to 00:12:31.570 --> 00:12:36.210 be for us too. You see, when we let something 00:12:36.210 --> 00:12:39.909 go, it's not because the thing is necessarily 00:12:39.909 --> 00:12:42.769 evil. In fact, it's usually better if it's not. 00:12:43.529 --> 00:12:53.580 Bread? Not evil. Food? Not evil. Cookies? They 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:56.039 stick around a little too long, but inherently 00:12:56.039 --> 00:13:00.539 not evil. Comfort is not evil. The issue is whether 00:13:00.539 --> 00:13:03.399 we believe we need them more than we need the 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:08.220 Father. Lent is what peels back our illusions 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:12.379 about the things we want. It reveals how quickly 00:13:12.379 --> 00:13:16.960 we justify getting them for ourselves. How easily 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.919 we say, what's the big deal? Six cookies versus 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:26.740 five. an extra drink, or maybe just giving in 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:31.159 to this addiction just a little too much. Just 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:34.179 this once, just a little compromise, just one 00:13:34.179 --> 00:13:37.480 shortcut. And Jesus stands in the wilderness 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:42.139 and says no when Adam said yes. But you see, 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.200 he's not resisting as someone born into Adam's 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:48.620 corruption. You see, he's conceived by the Holy 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.720 Spirit. He enters humanity without inheriting 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:56.399 our corruption. He's not dragged by some inward 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:00.600 rebellion. He's free. And sometimes that almost 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:05.620 bothers us. Of course, Jesus was able to resist 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:11.820 temptation. He's God. That's not fair. But think 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:14.500 about what we're saying when we say that. That's 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:17.759 not fair. Imagine you're drowning in a river. 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:23.049 The current, it's stronger than you thought it 00:14:23.049 --> 00:14:25.990 was going to be. You can swim, but somehow, your 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:29.950 limbs, they're giving out. You can't reach the 00:14:29.950 --> 00:14:33.789 bank. And then someone, standing on solid ground, 00:14:34.149 --> 00:14:37.110 throws you a line, braces themselves, and pulls 00:14:37.110 --> 00:14:40.710 you out. And then, imagine you are coughing on 00:14:40.710 --> 00:14:43.149 the shore, and you shout out, that's not fair! 00:14:43.610 --> 00:14:45.629 That doesn't count. You weren't drowning like 00:14:45.629 --> 00:14:53.740 I was. How absurd would that be to be upset that 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:57.600 someone was not drowning when they saved you? 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:00.759 See, you don't need another drowning victim. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:05.200 You need someone who's standing without the current 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:09.019 sweeping them away. The only person who truly 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:12.159 knows the strength of temptation is the one who 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:14.879 never gave in and never would have in the first 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:19.809 place. See, the one who resists knows the full 00:15:19.809 --> 00:15:24.370 force, but didn't succumb. See, Jesus does not 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:27.730 resist because temptation is easy. He resists 00:15:27.730 --> 00:15:30.929 because He is strong in obedience, strong in 00:15:30.929 --> 00:15:34.090 trust, strong in love for the Father. And here's 00:15:34.090 --> 00:15:39.230 the Gospel heartbeat. He does it for us. The 00:15:39.230 --> 00:15:42.250 first Adam stood in a garden bursting with life 00:15:42.250 --> 00:15:45.789 and reached for what was not given. And in that 00:15:45.789 --> 00:15:49.929 reaching, Everything cracked. Death entered. 00:15:50.289 --> 00:15:53.649 Corruption spread. The ground resisted. The body 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:59.610 decayed. The soul focused on itself. And we protest 00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:04.350 it's not fair. Why should we be subject to what 00:16:04.350 --> 00:16:08.169 somebody else did? But if we're honest, what 00:16:08.169 --> 00:16:10.370 confidence do we really have that we would have 00:16:10.370 --> 00:16:14.669 done any better? We struggle daily to trust God 00:16:14.669 --> 00:16:19.029 with far smaller commands, don't we? We rationalize 00:16:19.029 --> 00:16:22.110 things, we soften our boundaries, we adjust the 00:16:22.110 --> 00:16:25.889 wording, just like you did. We explain away rebellion 00:16:25.889 --> 00:16:28.309 in ourselves while we still condemn everyone 00:16:28.309 --> 00:16:31.710 else. If anything, our attempts to justify Adam 00:16:31.710 --> 00:16:34.730 and Eve reveal how deeply their condition lives 00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:39.210 in us. So the issue was never fairness. If God 00:16:39.210 --> 00:16:42.629 were concerned with strict fairness, The story 00:16:42.629 --> 00:16:46.250 would have ended in Genesis 3. Instead, from 00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:48.470 the very moment of the fall, God was already 00:16:48.470 --> 00:16:53.330 speaking promise, covering shame, marking out 00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:56.250 all of the things that would have kept us from 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:00.769 mercy. Faith has always been the thread. Trusting 00:17:00.769 --> 00:17:04.990 in His Word has always been the way. And then 00:17:04.990 --> 00:17:10.150 the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Not 00:17:10.150 --> 00:17:13.150 to observe, not to sympathize from a distance, 00:17:13.910 --> 00:17:19.490 but to stand where Adam fell. You see, Jesus 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:25.049 in the wilderness goes beyond what Adam was able 00:17:25.049 --> 00:17:29.470 and willing to do in his mind. Let me say that 00:17:29.470 --> 00:17:33.329 better. Jesus goes beyond what Adam was willing 00:17:33.329 --> 00:17:38.769 to do because he was always able. But you see, 00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:42.009 Jesus does not stop at resisting bread, spectacle, 00:17:42.150 --> 00:17:45.930 and power. He goes all the way to the cross. 00:17:47.269 --> 00:17:50.829 You see, when Jesus pulls us from the water, 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:55.549 we do not accuse Him for not drowning. He was 00:17:55.549 --> 00:17:58.289 conceived by the Holy Spirit, not born under 00:17:58.289 --> 00:18:01.230 Adam's corruption. He faces temptation without 00:18:01.230 --> 00:18:03.890 bending toward the sin. He feels its full force 00:18:03.890 --> 00:18:07.200 and does not yield. And we thank Him for not 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:10.539 letting us drown. Because now there's a new inheritance. 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:14.019 Instead of inheriting the corruption from Adam 00:18:14.019 --> 00:18:18.940 and then being left with no hope, instead we 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:22.259 also inherit now the righteousness from the second 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:26.579 Adam by faith. The first passed down death, the 00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:30.940 second passes down life. Instead of condemnation, 00:18:31.660 --> 00:18:35.380 we are now given the obedience. of Christ Jesus 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:38.880 that is credited to us for righteousness. It's 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:42.819 not about fairness. It's about grace. See, fair 00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:45.500 would have left us in the river. Grace sends 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:49.019 us God's son. And that, that is how we're meant 00:18:49.019 --> 00:18:51.480 to be seeing Lent. It's not about competing. 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:54.220 Did you keep up with your sacrifice and someone 00:18:54.220 --> 00:18:57.640 else didn't? Is there some spiritual scoreboard 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:02.519 and, well, another Lent on the scoreboard? It's 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.039 not about who sacrifices more or struggles less. 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:07.779 We're not measuring fairness. We're training 00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:11.619 our hearts. We let go of unimportant things to 00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:17.859 remember who never lets go of us. See, we may 00:19:17.859 --> 00:19:20.940 not ever be able to truly understand all that 00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:25.339 happens with God. But you see, we can surrender 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:28.759 comforts to learn that comfort was never meant 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:34.200 to be our Savior. We may feel the ache, but we 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.319 discover deeper satisfaction in our security 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:40.240 with Christ. See, some of us may wrestle with 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.299 temptations that others do not. Some of us carry 00:19:43.299 --> 00:19:47.980 burdens that feel uniquely heavy. And again, 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:50.119 there's a little whisper that says, that's not 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:55.240 fair. No, it is not. But neither is the cross. 00:19:55.880 --> 00:19:58.799 Neither is righteousness we did not earn. Neither 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.819 is inheritance we did not secure. Neither is 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:04.900 eternal life that was given freely to those who 00:20:04.900 --> 00:20:09.440 trust. We are not walking in the wilderness alone 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:13.319 because the second Adam already walked it and 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:17.160 has already won the victory for us. You're not 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:19.019 in the wilderness to win something. You're in 00:20:19.019 --> 00:20:21.640 the wilderness because Christ has already won 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:24.980 it for you. You're not negotiating an inheritance. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:27.279 You already have one. You're not fighting for 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:29.900 righteousness. You've already been given it When 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.720 lent exposes you it does not threaten you it 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:36.000 reminds you of who your true Adam truly is now 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:40.720 So the first Adam gave you death the second Adam 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:44.579 gives you life and His victory is not fragile, 00:20:44.579 --> 00:20:47.880 and it doesn't break when you stumble so in this 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:51.500 season of Letting go may we cling more tightly 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:54.779 to Christ not to our strength, not to our discipline, 00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:58.440 not to our performance, to Him because the one 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.079 who stood in the wilderness for you still stands 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:05.559 for you even now. Thanks be to God.