Confident Repentance
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.
All three of our Scripture lessons today (Gen. 3:1-21; Mt. 4:1-11; and Heb. 4:14-16) deal with temptation. First, we heard how Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden and leapt headfirst into sin. Second, we heard how Jesus Himself was tempted in the wilderness by the devil and didn’t jump into sin. And this epistle lesson brings it all together by telling you that your Savior knows your temptations, that He is sympathetic toward your weakness in the face of those temptations, and that He is always ready to welcome you to His throne of grace. Hopefully, v. 15 is a familiar verse to you already, but I want you to hear it again. Listen carefully. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
We might hear that and just fly over it without giving it much thought. I think it is easy to have a blasé attitude toward that verse and think, “Sure, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, but look how easily He resisted those temptations. He just quoted some Bible verses, and voilà. No big deal. After all, He’s God, and God cannot sin. The temptations I face are much more difficult.” Dear saints, be careful with that kind of thinking. To think that Jesus wasn’t tempted like we are is to essentially deny His humanity.
Jesus was indeed tempted in every way – every way – that we are tempted. And, in fact, I think v. 15 here teaches us very clearly that Jesus knows what it is to be tempted even better than you and I do. Try this picture:
Imagine there are two men who are standing over a pit of sin. This pit could be any sin. It could be lust and clicking on certain websites, it could be anger toward others, it could be gluttony, it could be gossip. And I would encourage you to imagine that this pit is whatever sin you recognize most often in your own life. So, these two men are standing over the pit of sin with a cord tied around their waist. At the bottom of that pit is the devil trying to tempt these men into sin.
Neither of the men simply jump into that pit and willingly sin. So, the devil adds some weight. Satan adds five pounds to the first man’s cord. The man notices a little tug, but he knows what is at the bottom of the pit, so he resists. The devil adds another ten pounds to the cord, and the man has to compensate a bit to keep his balance, but he still resists. So, the devil adds another twenty-five pounds. The cord is digging into the man’s waist. It’s painful and difficult. And the man thinks, “Well, this is just going to keep getting harder. The struggle isn’t going to stop.” So, he simply jumps into the pit and sins. And there, please notice that I said that he ‘jumps’ into the pit. He doesn’t simply fall into the pit. Scripture does talk about ‘falling’ into sin but you only fall into sin after you jump. The man willingly and deliberately jumps in because he figures the temptation is just going to continue to get worse. I’ll explain that bit about jumping more in a bit.
Now, the second man doesn’t jump into the pit right away either. The first five and the additional ten pounds are just as noticeable to him as it was to the first man, but he doesn’t jump. The next twenty-five pounds cut into his skin just as it did the other, but he keeps fighting. So, the devil keeps adding weight. Another fifty pounds. Then, another hundred pounds. The second man is pulling with all his might against the 190 lbs. of temptation weight. He’s clutching on to a tree with every ounce of strength to keep himself out of the pit. The devil decides that a little more weight will do the trick and throws it on the end of the cord…
But the cord snaps. And the man is left there on the ground. He’s tired and sore and injured, but he isn’t in the pit. He remains on the firm, solid ground.
Now, which of those two men knows better what it is to be tempted? The second man. The man who resisted the temptation. He fought longer and harder, and by God’s grace, he prevailed.
With that picture in your mind, listen to what Heb. 2:17-18 says about Jesus, “[Christ] had to be made like His brothers,” that’s all of us (not just the men here), “He had to be made like His brothers in every respect in order to atone for the sins of the people.” Now, listen very carefully as the text continues, “Because [Jesus] Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Dear saints, Jesus suffered when He was tempted. When our text here says that Jesus was “tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin,” that isn’t just referring to the types of sin that Jesus was tempted with. He knows every weight of temptation that you have experienced. He knows what it is to have that cord pulling and tugging Him. Yet, He endured the weight and allure of sin. Every cord and rope and chain of temptation that the devil used to try and pull Jesus into the pit of sin broke. So, your Savior is able and knows how to help you when you are being tempted.
Now, that brings me back to what I said in the picture where the first man jumps into the pit of sin. This little analogy should shed new light on 1 Cor. 10:13, which says, “No temptation has come upon you that is not common to man. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.” Stop there for just a second. Jesus knows how much weight of temptation you can handle. The cords and ropes the devil would use to tempt you will all break, they will completely snap, at the exact weight that God determines. Satan can’t use ropes of temptation that are more than you can bear. The devil does not have that ability. Back to the text, “God will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation [God] will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Dear saints, that is why we have to say that when we are tempted and sin, we don’t just fall into the pit. No, we jump. You and I too easily jump into the various pits of sin. And it is only after we jump that we fall. When the weight gets heavy and the struggle long, we simply jump and find ourselves in those pits of despair. We need to fight temptations because those cords will break. Scripture promises. Later in Heb. 12[:4], we hear this, “In your struggle against sin,” and the word there in Greek for ‘struggle’ is ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagonizomai) where we get our word ‘antagonist.’ It’s interesting to know that word ἀνταγωνίζομαι is used outside of Scripture to describe a boxing match and even mortal combat – fighting to the death. So let’s use that idea. “In your mortal combat against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Fighting temptation isn’t just a mortal combat for your physical life; it is an eternal combat for your soul. Yet, you and I too often do not put up much of a fight. We jump into all sorts of sins. Repent.
Maybe you noticed that I titled this sermon “Confident Repentance,” and here I’ve spent all this time talking about temptations and the need to resist them. We do need to resist temptation. We need to fight against our sinful flesh. Yet, we also recognize that we keep jumping headfirst into sins over and over again. And the thing that this text would teach us is that we do not need to hide that fact before God. So, here is why you can confidently repent: you have a merciful God who can personally sympathize with your weakness when it comes to temptation and sin.
One of the saddest things we saw in our Old Testament lesson is that Adam and Eve fled from the sound of their Creator after they sinned. Then, over and over God is simply trying to get them to repent which is nothing more than telling the truth about your sin. God asks, “Where are you?” God knew where they were, and He knew what they had done. He was just trying to get them to tell the truth about their sin. God asks Adam a second question, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I commanded you to not eat?” In other words, God again just wanted Adam to speak the truth about his sin. But Adam passes the buck. Eve gets asked, “What is this that you have done?” and she blames the serpent. Parents wouldn’t accept these excuses from their children because Adam and Eve are both trying to put the blame somewhere else. It isn’t what we might call ‘true repentance.’
But also notice, there are little kernels of truth. Adam does say he ate – even though he blames his wife and, ultimately, God. Eve also admits she ate even though she blames the serpent. But God abundantly merciful and counts it as repentance. Notice the first thing God does. He punishes the devil and promises to send Jesus to crush his head.
God takes these sorry excuses and counts them as repentance, and this is way back in Genesis. So, how much more, now that Jesus has come and has been tempted in every way that you are, now that Scripture promises that because of Christ God is sympathetic to your temptations because He knows your struggles against them, how much more confidence can you have that when you repent and tell the truth about your sin you will also find mercy and forgiveness?
You can, with sure and certain confidence, approach God’s throne of grace and admit those times that the heavy weight of temptation got to you and you jumped into the pit of sin. You can confess the times where there was just a little weight – just measly fifteen or even ten pounds – and you jumped. You can even bring before God the times where there wasn’t any weight and you simply jumped into the pit.
Jesus knows your temptations, your weakness, and your failures. And He still goes to the cross for you. Jesus takes your sin upon Himself. Jesus has gone into every pit of sin into which you have jumped to rescue and redeem you. He suffered all the wrath you have earned by your sins. And now, He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father ready to hear your plea, “Have mercy on me.” And He does.
So, now, confidently repent. And hear His merciful invitation to take your seat at His table. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.