Jesus Gets Us

0:48But then Austin told me he was going to listen to the sermon online, so I had to scratch that plan. Now some of you may know that Nicole and I used to be foster parents. And when we lived in Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, we used to go to a foster parent support group. Now, why did they have a foster parent support group? Well, they had a foster parent support group to help foster parents because they are living a different experience than other parents. And they need a safe space to talk about what's going on with people who understand and won't be judgy. Now, sometimes foster parents will. Like, live in other spaces, like perhaps even the church, and they'll hear well-meaning parenting advice, which just makes no sense and doesn't work for what's going on with them.

1:45For a simple example, you know, a lot of churches will quote liberally that if you spare the rod and spoil, you'll spoil the child, and so therefore, you must spank your children. Well, that's totally forbidden if you're a foster parent, BTW. It is totally against the rules. It's a good way to lose your license. So, that kind of advice is not helpful. And there's lots of crazy things that go on, you know, if you're a foster parent that other people just don't understand.

2:12So, it's really helpful to have a support group, people who kind of get what's going on, who aren't going to look down at like your weird experience, and who are going to help you through that. Similarly, people who are dealing with addiction often go to support groups so that they can have people who are like understand the trials that they are going through and can help them through that. Now, what you want in a support group, though, is people who get you, aren't going to judge you, but can help you. It's not terribly useful if you're like in the Caribbean about to drown and you look to your left, and there's somebody else who's about to drown who's like, I get you.

2:59And then you Both go under. Like, that's not what you need. Right? So, today's passage is really telling us a great thing about Jesus. And the great thing about Jesus is that we can have hope because he has been through all of the things that we have been through, and he has done so without sin. So, he can sympathize with us in our weakness, and yet he can help us because he was able to endure those things without sin.

3:40So, let's go to our summary here. So, I summarize this like step right up to God, right? Like, you think about the carnival barkers, step right up, step right up. So, you should not be shy. You should step right up to Jesus. Why should you step right up to Jesus? Because Jesus gets us. Jesus gets us. He went through all the things that we go through, yet without sin. And so, there's three things that we're going to talk through. The first, that the passage tells us to cling to our faith.

4:15Verse 14, since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. Now, why is the writer telling this to the Hebrews? He's telling this to them because they were living in hard times. Was persecution, there was this temptation to fall back, to fall back into Judaism, to stop following Jesus. And so he wants to tell them to hold fast, to cling on. And so, previously, let's see, previously, in the passage, it says that Jesus has passed through the heavens. And that's a reference to the ascension, right? We read through the Apostles' Creed. Jesus died, he was buried, he descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again, he ascended to the heavens, he seated at the right hand of God.

5:18He was seen by many witnesses. As we were going through the book of Romans, Pastor Alan talked to us about how our faith is a faith that has evidence, right? We don't exercise blind faith in Jesus. He was seen alive after his resurrection by many witnesses, and then he was seen by many as he ascended to heaven where he now sits at the Father's right hand. Many people have testified to that, what they saw with their own eyes. That testimony has been passed down to us through the word of God. Last week, Pastor Joshua talked to us about how Jesus intercedes for us as a great high priest.

6:00In 1 Timothy 2.5, it says, there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. So, if we're going to step right up to God, Jesus gets this, we're going to cling to our faith. We need to talk about, like, what is that faith? We had a good summary in the Apostles' Creed, but I'm going to give you a few more points here on who Jesus was. Who is this guy that I'm encouraging you to cling on to? So, the first thing to know about Jesus is that he always was, and he created everything.

6:33So, in Colossians 1.16, it says, For by him, by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. So, Jesus is God, the Son, who has always been and who created everything. He also, even though he was in very nature God, he became human and he walked among us. Philippians 2, 6, who, though, he was in the form of God, did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

7:18So, Jesus, God himself, came and lived among us, and he lived without sin. He did everything perfectly for his entire life. Peter 2.22, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. And Jesus suffered and was tempted. Hebrews 5, 8, although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. He died on the cross for sinners. 1 Peter 2.24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.

8:00But that wasn't the end of the story. He rose again, victorious over death, victorious over sin, and ascended to God the Father as our great high priest. Romans 8.34, Jesus Christ is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, and who is indeed interceding for us. So this is the person. This is the faith that we're going to cling on to. So I borrowed this language of cling from Joshua 23.

8:31So in Joshua 23, 6 through 8, Joshua is exhorting the people. He says, Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left. They may not mix with these nations remaining among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them. But you shall cling. You shall cling to the Lord your God, just as you have done to this day.

9:00So let's talk about clinging for a minute. So sometimes my wife works with the preschoolers back there. And you go, sometimes preschoolers do not want to go to preschool. They want to stay with mommy or daddy, right? And so they will cling on to mommy or daddy for dear life. Death first. Do not put me in childcare. Right? That's a picture of what our clinging to Jesus should be like. Last time I preached, I talked to you about being all in for Jesus.

9:38This picture is similar. Hold on like your life depends on it. Because it does. Jesus is our only hope for eternity. We don't earn God's favor by doing things. We don't earn God's favor by thinking things. We get God's favor because we have Jesus. Jesus will say to the Father, this one's mine. That's what we need to cling on to. You need to cling on to that like you would cling on to a life preserver if you fall off a ship into the ocean. Last week, we went on a cruise and we did snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea. It turns out I am not a good swimmer. I actually knew that.

10:24What I didn't know was they give you these like flippy things to put on your feet, and that's supposed to To make life better, it did not. It made life worse. Because apparently, the only stroke, like I went to all these swimming lessons, blah, blah, blah. The only stroke I ever learned was the breaststroke. And the breaststroke, you kind of like do this like weird, foggy, kicky thing. The flippers do not help you with that. So I'm like bobbing in the Caribbean, and there's this like leader dude, and he's got this ring. He's like, if you're going down, come hold on to the ring. Right? That is another picture of what we should be doing with Jesus. Like, go cling on to the ring, lest you go down and sleep with the fishes.

11:10Okay, so, first big point: we need to cling to our faith. That is the most important thing. Our life depends on if we cling to Jesus. Remember this: trust in nothing else. Do not trust in your goodness. Do not trust in the fact that you were baptized when you were eight. Do not trust in the fact that you can say the right things. You have to be putting all of your confidence in what Jesus has done for you and cling to him.

11:44So, our second point is that Jesus gets us, he walked in our shoes. Why do we know that Jesus gets us? Why do we know that he understands our weakness? Because he was tempted in every way, just as we are. We have that recorded for us in Luke. 4 and Matthew 4. Beginning of Luke 4 says, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they ended, he was hungry. I mean, that seems like an understatement, right? Like, I got up this morning, I get up every Sunday morning, I eat breakfast, I come to church. After the 11 o'clock hour, I'm starving. Like, I'm ready to die. And it's like, wifey, why don't we have lunch on the table yet? And so I actually get a snack usually because I can't make it all the way, you know, from before church to like one o'clock. Jesus hasn't eaten for 40 days. Count him up, 40 days.

12:52So, but you know, honestly, if I'm honest with you, sometimes when I read these things about Jesus, I'm kind of like, Jesus was God. Like, I'm pretty sure he had cheat mode on in his video game. And so, this is like no big deal. That's not really what it was like. Jesus was fully human, right? If we talk about what we believe about Jesus, Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully human. This hunger was real, and it was probably ravenous.

13:24So, we're now at the end of 40 days, and that's where we pick up in sort of the climax of this temptation. He's been telling us that. Tempted, as it says, for the full 40 days, not just the little snippet that we're going to talk about. He's been tempted for 40 days. He's famished. And the devil says to him, If you're the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. This feels like a peculiar temptation. What's wrong with baking bread? Jesus does it a couple times, feeds thousands of people. And so I'm sort of thinking to myself, whole wheat or rye, maybe sourdough? Like, bring it on. But why does Jesus say no? Because Jesus understands that he's being tempted to look out for himself and take care of his own needs instead of trusting his father.

14:12So I was sort of thinking, like, what are ways that we are tempted to look out for ourselves and not trust God's provision? And I sort of think, well, you know, the way I used to say this, you can sort of tell people's priorities and what they worry about by looking at their calendar and their checkbook. Now, this is like 2026 now, and who has a checkbook? So maybe you need to like look at their calendar and their Venmo or their calendar and their banking app or whatever. I think you get the point. So I think the big things that sort of people really struggle with trusting God are about money and time.

14:49So it turns out Nicole and I give a lot of money. We give well more than 10%. But we don't like eat beans and rice or anything. So, you know, there's that. I don't worry about if I can afford my next meal or if I'm going to have a place to live or if I'm going to have enough clothes to wear. But what I have noticed is that, like, sometimes Nicole will say, like, we should give money to this thing. Like, just last week, she's like, we should give money to this missionary. And I'm sort of like, we give an awful lot. We, you know, it's probably somebody else's turn. Maybe we need that money.

15:26Like, there's a little bit, I call it sort of my Grinchy nature. And, you know, maybe I don't trust God as much with money as I would think. So maybe that's, you know, a challenge for all of us. Are we really generous? Are we really trusting God to provide for us with our money? Or what about our time? Do you take time regularly to spend with God reading his word in prayer, in meditation? Or do you do that like maybe if you get everything else done? Like I talked to a lot of students, and they're sort of like, well, you know, I read my Bible right before I go to bed. I'm like, okay, so that means like if you get all your homework done and you're still awake, then maybe you spend some time with Jesus. I'm like, I really wish you hadn't phrased it quite like that.

16:16So, you know, what I tell people is you need to give God your first and your best, not your last and your leftovers. You need to really trust in God's provision. So, can we trust that if we're generous with our giving, that God will provide? All we need? Can we trust that if we spend time in prayer, in reading God's Word, that He will enable us to get our work done, to get our studying done, to do all the things that we need to do?

16:45The temptation continues. Matthew 4:4, Jesus answered, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Our best sustenance, our best sustenance doesn't come from our money or our time, it comes from God and His Word. So then the devil takes him up. This is Luke 4:5, took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. This is another interesting temptation, right? Because Satan is offering Jesus what is already his.

17:35All the kingdoms of the world already belong to Jesus. But what's the catch? Jesus is going to walk through the crucifixion. He's going to walk through incredible suffering. And so Satan's like, here's a shortcut. You can take the shortcut and get all the glory. Now. And so I think about like, what are ways we are tempted to take shortcuts? Maybe it's like cheating on an exam or homework, cheating on your taxes. I recently got a receipt from a charity that I didn't actually give money to.

18:21It was complicated why that error happened. But there was sort of some part of me that was just like, you know, you could just stick this in your files and claim it on your taxes at tax time anyway. And who's going to know when you have a piece of paper that says you did this thing? But I'm not going to do that, just so we're all clear. Don't do that. That's bad. But there are these temptations to like take shortcuts and like cut corners because, you know, fundamentally we aren't trusting God. We aren't willing to go through the path that He has set out for us.

18:54I was recently talking to a guy, and the particular thing that he struggles with is that he will tell little white lies in order to look good in conversations. So, you know, I was just telling you about snorkeling in the Caribbean. I actually got to see a shark. I mean, I guess that was cool. I was a little nerving, right? Like, I've seen shark week. But, you know, but you know, this guy would be like, oh, yeah, well, you know, you saw a six-foot shark. Well, I saw an eight-foot shark, even though he's never seen a shark, but he just wants to feel. Cool, so he injects these little white lies into conversations.

19:37So, again, he's trying to take a shortcut. So, then the third one that we see here is: Satan took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it's written, He will guard, or He will command His angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. Are there ways where we're deliberately reckless and we're just sort of trusting God will take care of us? Jesus answered and said, Jesus answered him, and it is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

20:27In mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, No man knows how bad he is until he's tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means, the only complete realist. End quote. Jesus really understood what it was like to be tempted. Jesus really understands our weakness. It says he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. So you may think, like, oh, well, Marty didn't talk about the kinds of things I struggle with. Well, you know, we didn't have three hours. But whatever it is that you're struggling with, Jesus faced a similar temptation, and he did not sin. Jesus understands what you are going through. Jesus understands what you're going through, no matter what temptation you are facing. And he understands temptation so much that it comes up in the Lord's Prayer. In the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:13, Jesus says, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

22:18Jesus understood what it was to be tempted. And so he tells us to pray that we will not be tempted because he understands the strength of temptation. He understands our weakness. Amen. All right, so let's get the next slide here. So I'm not a Greek scholar. I don't play one on TV. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently, but I did some research on this word, sympatheto, in verse 14. As you can see, the transliteration there looks a lot like the word sympathy. And in fact, that's how the ESV Bible translates it, as was read this morning. The revised English version, the Revised English Bible chooses empathy instead. Here's what they say in their commentary. The translation is sometimes thought to be sympathize, following more closely to the spelling of the Greek. And sympathize can be a meaning in some contexts, but empathize is a more accurate translation in this verse. Empathy is when a person can understand and feel what another person is feeling. In contrast, sympathy is having compassion for the other person, but without necessarily feeling or being able to feel or identify with the other person's feelings. So I read that, and then I sort of went down this rabbit hole as I was preparing this sermon, and I started like looking up the definitions of sympathy and empathy in dictionaries and online sources and whatever. And I even found where some Christians call empathy a sin. I don't know if you've heard that. This is apparently a thing now. Here's a quote from Joe Rigny's book, Leadership and the Sin of Empathy. When you reject the sin of empathy, you reject the manipulation of the media, the manipulation of family and friends, and most importantly, the manipulation of your own heart.

24:12Elon Musk told the podcaster Joe Rogan, the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit. They're exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response. Wow. Now, I did some more research on this because I'm like, what? And it seemed like we were talking about different things. Like when they said the word empathy and when I said the word empathy, we were talking about totally different things. And so this sort of reminded me of some conversations that I've had with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons. And you sort of talk to them about being saved by faith and they're like, yeah, we're saved by faith. And then I'll say like, no, you don't think so. And they're like, yeah, we're saved by faith. So here we have a quote from their website.

25:05So besides repentance, our works also include receiving ordinances, keeping covenants, and serving others. While these works are necessary for salvation, they aren't sufficient. They are not enough because we can't live perfect lives, but we can do our best to live righteously. By doing so, we invite the Lord's grace into our lives and qualify. Qualify, qualify for the gift of salvation. That is a huge contrast to the Christian gospel. That is a huge contrast to the Christian gospel. And so, and we've heard testimonies of people who've been baptized where they sort of believe a similar kind of thing. They sort of believe, I'm going to earn my way to heaven. I'm going to earn God's gift of salvation. This is not the gospel. You do not qualify for the gift of salvation, period. There are not works necessary for salvation, period. Instead, you cling to Jesus like the child clinging to their parent or clinging to the life preservers. You're bobbing in the Caribbean and hoping you're not going to go sleep with the shark at the bottom.

26:20That is how you attain salvation. All right. Jesus, when you cling to him, he qualified for our salvation by his perfect life, by dying on our behalf. He pays the penalty for sin. He intercedes with the Father for us after his resurrection and ascension. Okay, but let's go back to empathy and sympathy for a moment. Andrea Goulet, a communication coach, wrote that defining empathy is like nailing jello to the wall. Apparently, empathy didn't even become an English word until 1908. I didn't know that.

27:02And C. Daniel Bastion, a social psychologist from Kansas University, said, it would simplify matters if empathy referred to a single object and everyone agreed on what that object was. Unfortunately, as with many psychological terms, this is not the case. Both empathy and sympathy, the term with which empathy is most contrasted, have been used in a variety of ways. Indeed, with remarkable consistency, exactly the same state that some scholars have labeled empathy, others have labeled sympathy. I have discerned no clear basis, either historical or logical, for favoring one labeling scheme or the other. This is where I sort of lost hope for defining these terms for you in the sermon.

27:41So, after I did a whole bunch of research on this, it was really going to be brilliant, and then it just wasn't. So, I decided it's probably not helpful for me to try to tease out these two English words. And in fact, I was reminded of 2 Timothy 2:14, where Paul says, Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Okay, but nonetheless, you know, I sort of feel like some of these people who are doing these writings on the internet are not helping us with what they're saying and how they use these words. So, what I'm going to spend a little time on is like really helping you understand what the supatho is that's being talked about in Hebrews and what it is not.

28:28So, what is it? It is. Fully informed by real human experience. Jesus was a human. He walked among us. He experienced the things we experience. It's deeply felt. There is deep emotion. It is compassionate toward weakness and not disgusted by it. We see in Jesus' life that he weeps over sin, he weeps over the hardness of the hearts in Jerusalem. He weeps when his friend Lazarus dies. He is moved by compassion for the leper and for the crowds. There is deep emotion and feeling in Jesus' supatheo. It's rooted in his own suffering and temptation. He experienced the things that we experience. And it's perfectly holy. It's perfectly holy. He lived without sin while still deeply understanding sinners. And let's talk about what this supothéo is not. It's not pity from a distance or coldness.

29:33It's not approval of sin. Jesus doesn't condone in sin. Jesus doesn't participate in sin. When the woman is accused of adultery in John chapter 8, what does Jesus say to her? Go and sin no more. When there's the man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5, what does Jesus tell him? Go and sin no more. It's not that Jesus just Overlooks sin or is like winks at it is that Jesus is going to pull us out of that into something better.

30:12Jesus sympathetic is not emotional softness without holiness. It does not excuse rebellion. It does not excuse unbelief. And it is not a bug. It is not a bug in his character. It is not a weakness in his character. Jesus is tender towards weakness, but never tolerates sin. He's tempted in every respect and never gives in. He's never conquered by temptation. Jesus is holy enough to help and human enough to understand. All right, so we've seen, cling to our faith, we've seen Jesus gets us, and so what should we do? We need to ask God for help.

30:56So Hebrews 4:16, let us then with confidence, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we will receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So if you're not a follower of Jesus today, I would strongly encourage you. I would strongly encourage you to come to Jesus, to be restored to a right relationship with God, who came for us instead of waiting for us to come to him. If you are a follower of Jesus, don't let go. Ask for help when you're tempted.

31:311 Corinthians 10, 13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. So there are lots of Christians who want to be married and aren't. I got married probably 10 years later in life than most people in the United States, and even longer than that for people in the South. And our society seems to idolize intimacy. You see it in movies, on TV, social media, popular music, conversations with co-workers and classmates. In fact, this is such a priority in our society that I often rephrase the Declaration of Independence as the pursuit of life, liberty, and physical gratification.

32:25Here's a place lots of people are tempted to take shortcuts, not only singles, but also married people. Jesus experienced this temptation. He hung out with prostitutes, but he did so without sin. If this is a struggle for you, go to Jesus. Ask for help. He gets you. He wants to help you. Maybe you struggle with worry or anger or depression. Jesus faced all these things, but without sin. He came to a people who were waiting for him, for the Messiah, but didn't recognize him. He faced religious leaders that should have rejoiced to see the prophecies they'd read and studied and taught fulfilled, but instead who hated him and wanted him dead. Jesus understands whatever you are facing and wants to help you. Ask for help when you're sick. Ask for help when you're weary. Jesus understands and wants to walk through this with you. Yeah, I had a friend, I still have a friend named Josh Crispin. And so Josh Crispin had this attitude. He went to Cleveland and he had his car stolen in Cleveland. And so he asked us to pray. And so I'm thinking, dude, you drove your car into the hood in Cleveland and now it's gone and you will never see it again. It's in a chop shop. It's in like 57,000 pieces all over the Cleveland metro area.

33:50I don't really often have the kind of faith that I talk to you about. But like I'm working on it and Jesus is helping me. But what happened? Like he prayed and God restored his car to him. There are many times that I've seen God will help us when we pray. And so, you know, James tells us, you don't have because you don't ask. And so let's ask. When you realize that you have a great high priest in Jesus, one who's way better, that's sort of the big theme of Hebrews. Jesus is better. Jesus is better. We have a great high priest who's way better than the high priest of the Old Testament. We should therefore carry that hope out into the world. 2 Corinthians 1, 3 and 4 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Right, so what Paul is saying there is God comforts us when we're in trials, and because God comforts us when we're in trials, we can then comfort other people who go through trials. And it doesn't say just like the kinds of trials that we went through. It's like comfort those in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. We are called to take the comfort we have received from Jesus and share it with the world. We should follow Jesus' example, a sumpaceo, right? We should feel deeply for others and not in a way that excuses sin, but in a way that's going to bring people to Jesus and help them out of where they are.

35:42So if you're a Christian, I hope this passage encouraged you. We have a great high priest who's faced the trials and temptations we face, triumphed over them, and wants to help us. If you aren't a Christian, I hope that you'll ask more questions about Jesus. Talk to one of us after the service. And I most of all hope that you'll decide to trust Jesus and follow him. Jesus wants to be your great high priest who really gets you, who brings you back to God, who helps you in your weakness and struggles. Please join me in prayer.

36:18God, we thank you for today. We thank you for this opportunity to worship, to hear from your word. And Lord, we pray that your spirit would be at work in our hearts to convict us of the truth, to help us become more like Jesus, and to bring that hope to the world around us. Thank you for all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.