Matthew 26:31-41 (#96.2024.05.12)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:50

Well, you ever feel like the spirit is willing, but flesh is weak? That's what we're gonna look at today. Same with me as we read the scripture, from Matthew. Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night where it is written. I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. And after I've been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter said to him, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this very night before a rooster crows, you will deny me 3 times. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:41

All the disciples said the same thing too. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And he took with him, Peter and the 2 sons of Debbie. Began to be grieved and distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here. Keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond that and fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass for me, yet not as I will, but if you will.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:23

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, said to Peter, so you men could not keep watch with me for 1 hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The word of the lord. Thanks be to god. So we looked at this passage last week from Jesus' perspective as he went through the Garden of Gethsemane to, to face his biggest temptation in a way. Now we're looking at from the standpoint of the disciples, as well. So he begins by telling him what? You will fall away. You will fall away because of me this night.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:11

So I put on there that Jesus essentially is giving them an early warning. Before the tornado showed up, you get an early warning. That's right. That something is coming. I agree with that. And that showed me that video this morning, and it took me right back to growing up in north of Chicago. And we were my brother and I were out in the backyard to play, and it's as if the sky got yellow, kind of the color of a yellow highlighter, which is really weird. Then it got completely silent, and then hailstones about the size of golf balls.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:56

And we went inside, my mother said, get to the basement. Get to the basement. And I remember just looking out the back window. We had a huge picture window in the back, and I could see the tail black. It turned out it was about 3 quarters of a mile to a mile away from our house, that black tail. And my brother and I said, can we bring potato chips? Totally clueless about what was happening and what would happen. Turned out there were 7 tornadoes, and over a 1000 people were injured. And there was just so much damage.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:30

And I remember everything from farms were wiped out. People were killed. I mean, the damage was just unbelievable. We were totally unaware, my brother and I, of what was to come. And so Jesus tells them early warning early warning. Everything from I'm telling you to look at the signs and see what's happening. Right? And he said, you will fall away. Of course, Peter says, like all of us, nah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:58

Not me. No. I won't. I won't. No way. And they said, no. We won't either. We won't either.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:07

So I put bravado doesn't help in spiritual battle. Bravado doesn't help in spiritual battle, Peter, like all of us. I'm no, lord. No. No. No. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. The precursor to stumbling is, right, a higher view of our own ability than we should have.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:40

An inflated view of our capacity, our ability to stand, Peter says, what? Are you kidding me? No way. Unaware, right, of the connection between what Jesus has said, it is coming. And Jesus would say at times, I told you before it comes to pass so that when it comes to pass, you would believe, you would be aware. Jesus tells us in advance, He does believe us, right, to be caught by surprise and sometimes pride goes before destruction. Oh, give us help against the adversary, he says in Psalm 108, for deliverance by man is in vain. And I love that picture. It says that the lord doesn't delight in the strength of the horse. What's that mean? In our weapons, in our warfare, in our stuff, right, our resources, the things that we rely on.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:37

He says he he doesn't delight in that, and so you shouldn't either. He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. No. But I do that thing with the leg. I do leg exercises. Right? Like, the strength of right? It gives us that picture that for us, this idea of bravado that I can stand strong. I've got it. Right? And as as a Christian, as life goes on, you tend to, in certain areas of your life, think I got it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:06

I'm good. I've done this before. I can do it again. You can do it on a regular basis, and we start to rely on our own strength. The good and the bad got statefulness of we've been doing this about 31 years, I think, is you can get into the feeling like I can do this. So I try to tell myself, right, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the lord. The horse is prepared, but victory belongs to the lord. And so I have to tell myself, anointed victory, but anointed preparation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:43

I need his help in preparation. I can't even trust in my own ability to prepare. Does that make sense? So as life goes on, you can start to say, I got this. I got this part of life down. I I know how to do this. I know how to do my work. I know how to do my do my roles. I know how to do my stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:00

So he just reminds us. Right? An early warning. Yeah. And, of course, he reminds us that in the latter days, perilous times are coming. Not so, Lord. I hope it's gonna get better. Well, it doesn't get better. Right? God gets better, but the times don't.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:25

So he gives them an early warning, and then he shows them. Right? This is the way he teaches. He teaches by speaking, but Jesus' way is always life on life. Jesus' way was life on life. That's how he taught. Right? He said, come follow me. Life on life. So an LOL is not what does that word means today? I don't know.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:51

Laugh out loud. Laugh out loud. But for Jesus, it meant life on life. That's how he taught. The master's way was always his discipleship was life on life. Do life together. So he says to them, come with me. Come with me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:07

It's a great picture because he reminds you, I am always with you. Right? So he he calls us into intimate fellowship, but it's a it's a teaching lesson. He's he's teaching through experience. He's saying, join me. Right? Come with me. And Peter, James, and John so he says to all the disciples, you sit here and pray. You sit here, and I'm gonna take these 3 and go over there and pray. So why did he pick those 3? I don't know other than 1231 that they he had the 3, which were Peter, James, and John.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:46

And we know that they had intimate moments to see his glory on the mount of metamorphomite, the mount of transformation. Right? They they beheld his glory. Some of them said, if you want if in order to to behold his his struggle and his grieving, they had to have seen his glory as well to be able to to endure that kind of thing. Don't know. But, certainly, these were the 3 in the inner circle, which begs the question, who's your inner circle? Who are your 3, right, and 1? John was the disciple of whom he loved. So Jesus gave us a picture. There were 12, then there were 3, then there were 1. Good to have an inner circle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:30

And James was the first to be martyred, and John was the last to die. So these were the bookends of the disciples. You know? So he says, come with me, Peter, James, and John. In fact, he says, come with me, Peter, and then he he calls them the 2 sons of Zebedee. Not sure why he didn't name him, but he said he took with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee. He began to be grieved and distressed. We talked about this last time. He's so he's allowing them to see this grieving.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:02

So the the son of god the one whom they saw raise the dead with his voice, speak healing, right, calm the sea, Right? And all of his power, they see him grieving, struggling with this. Grieving unto death, it said. You ever been some with somebody who was grieving unto death, literally blood dripping out of his forehead, breathing onto death. So they would watch him as he wrestled with the cup. They shared the cup, the cup of the blood of his new of the new covenant. Right? The cup of wine. Here, they're gonna they're gonna watch and struggle with another cup. He was wrestling with the cup of his father's wrath and justice.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:53

He was wrestling with the cup of his father's wrath and justice. It says in Jeremiah, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, here's what he says to me. Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. The cup of the wine of wrath. And we talked about this last week, how they shared the cup of the blood of his new covenant, and now they would watch him take the cup of god's father his father's wrath. Right? In order for them to be able to share the cup of the new covenant, he was gonna have to drink this cup, the cup of the wrath of God, which is his justice. Now Matthew Henry said, this word, which we talked about last week, he said it's the most entire dejection, anguish, and horror of mind, one surrounded with sorrows, overwhelmed with miseries, and almost swallowed up with terror and dismay. So if that's your definition of anxiety, yes, he's he's faced that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:52

Right? He has been tempted in all ways. So he is if you think about that, he has experienced this to the to the infinite degree, if you will. He is because he is infinite, he has experienced temptation to the infinite degree, which is a combination of both the depth of his temptation as well as the breadth. So there isn't any temptation that he hasn't faced that any human being will face. Every person can look to him and say, he's not he only he doesn't just know it in his head. He knows it in his body. He knows it in his soul. He's experienced it in the depth of who he is.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:33

And I said last week, who would do that? It's just it's bizarre. It's it's just that's why to Christ crucified to the Jew, it's a stumbling block. A messiah who would be grieved and hang on the cross and be cursed? No. Stumbling block. To Greeks, it's foolishness. You know, what I want is Thor. That's what I'm I'm on Thor. Right? Like, the guy with the hammer who can, like, bust chops and right? That's what we want.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:09

We that's right. We create the gods that we want. So he reminds us how stunning Jesus is, and he calls him into this because who could imagine that god becomes flesh and experiences the depth of grief that is beyond comprehension beyond comprehension. I always think that the uncontainable stepped into a container, right, where he experienced everything that you and I would contain. So there's nothing, everything you and I would experience. So I put on there, this is the final temptation for Jesus. Thank you. Point of go or no go.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:50

Right? Take his father's wrath. So as I said, it's hard to comprehend that the physical scorning and spitting and disgrace and shame that came from it as well as the burden of hanging on the cross is one thing. But this is really about the fact that he would experience the the one who is in eternal fellowship with the father. He knew the result of this was that he would become sin, and the father would turn. The wrath of his father would fall upon it. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. And it says he can please the father will be pleased to crush him on our behalf.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:41

And so Jesus is struggling with an understanding of this. The scripture tells us in unity, from eternity past, they agreed to this. In unity, in eternity past, they agreed that the time would come when God would the word would become flesh. The word would become flesh. When a child would be born and a son would be given, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty god, everlasting father, prince of peace prince of peace because he would purchase peace on our behalf. So he could take the father's wrath, or he could let all mankind perish in their sin. That's his choice. That's what he's struggling with.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:31

So he says, come and see, experience it. Right? Experience it. And, of course, not only experience it for them in the garden, but because they experienced it, you and I get to see it. Forget it? Because if they're not in on it, how would we know? They're not in on it, how would we know? That's how we know because it's in the word of God. So So he says, come and see Jesus breathing unto death as well. Come and hear Jesus pray. Come. Come in here, Jesus.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:04

Pray. You know that kind of prayer where you're praying alone and you think, I really wouldn't mind anybody else to be here because you're so intimate, you're so vulnerable. Ever feel like that? Right? That's the kind of prayer that God looks for where you're completely, right, completely vulnerable for him. Some of those moments are so intimate. You don't want anybody viewing it, but Jesus calls them close enough that they would hear. Close enough that they would hear when he as he cried out to his father. But what Jesus prayed with humility, and he prayed with honesty, to be heard by his father, here's the challenge, not to impress. He he was he wasn't there to impress.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:51

So he says, don't pray like the Gentiles who by repetition, right, or by being outside verbal loud wanna be heard. But Jesus said, you, when you pray, go into your inner room. Close your door. Pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret, underline that, will reward you. Praying is hard, isn't it? Praying alone is even harder. Praying and believing that it matters is really hard, isn't it? It doesn't really matter. God really hear? And, again, I like that that picture of Revelation where there's an urn of all the prayers of the saints, and they are rising before God like the sweet aroma. They're in a prayer you pray that goes unheard and uncollected in this urn to remind us, Lord Thank you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:49

That we we when we pray, god hears. And we don't have to pray to impress. We don't have to pray to impress. Some people say I pray, don't pray this big long prayer. Don't pray the short prayer. Don't pray this prayer. Don't pray that prayer. Pray the prayer that's on your heart.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:08

Right? Pray the prayer that's on your heart. It helps me to pray scripture because because scripture says if you pray anything according to his will, he hears us. If we know that he hears us, we know that we have the request which you would ask of him. So I know the prayers in scripture are his will because they're scriptural prayers. So that helps me as I pray. And sometimes I don't know how to pray. He says, you don't know how to pray. You don't know how to pray.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:35

You don't know what to pray for. You don't know how to pray for what you don't know how to pray. Well, that's how it feels like. Right? Then they'll be like that sometimes. Here's the most effective prayer. Help. Or, lord, right, it's a combination. Right? Sometimes it's short prayer.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:51

Right? Daniel's, right, praying in the midst. Well, he's praying unheard. Right? He's praying in his mind. It does help me to pray out loud because I think stupid prayers. And when I say them out loud, I think, well, that was stupid. I didn't really you know? I I don't know if that's just me, but I think stupid prayers when I say them out loud. And it also puts me into a relationship with him. It just makes my relationship more real with the Lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:23

But the I mean, the point is pray. Just pray and pray some more. Pray and figure it out. Right? But not to not to impress. Even when you pray with others, we don't need to impress them. So Jesus showed us pray to the father, don't pray to the people. That make sense? Pray to the father, not to the people in the room. It doesn't matter whether it's short or it does matter if you're praying with other people.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:47

It's too long. I remember when there was for a time, the pastors in the city were gathering, and I got invited into that. So we'd meet once a month, and these were the the pastor to all the the, the big churches in town. And somebody brought I think it was a he was a pastor from Africa, maybe. I don't know. It didn't really matter. But, I mean, he I think he prayed 10 minutes maybe. It was a long time and and one Gary Mitrick who's, Greater Works went over and just said, you know, there are other people here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:21

Could you? And I don't know if he it was just cultural, but, you know, just it was just reminding. Anyway, thought this up. I don't know why. Anyway, he prayed with humility on the the point is prayer is there's prayer alone, and there's prayer together. This is Jesus praying alone. He brings them in not to impress them, but to teach them. Does that make sense? To teach them. To prepare them for the days of battle that would be ahead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:53

They had no idea what they were facing. Right? Blessed be the lord, Yahweh, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. And I put on there, Jesus is fully god and fully man, and he needed to pray to face temptation. How much more us? How much more us? Alright. So both. So we have this sense of prayer. So he finds them, and what are they doing? They're sleeping. It says don't be sleeping.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:25

Don't be sleeping, proverbs. A little sleep. A little slumber. A little folding of the hand. He said, what will happen? Poverty will come like a robber, and you're want like an art man, a picture. Right? And I thought sleep has stages, doesn't it? It's got that first stage when you're falling asleep. Right? And then there's there's a couple of stages of nonrapid eye movement, 1 or 2 where you're falling deeper into sleep and then deep sleep. And then REM, now you're in dream world.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:00

So he's saying, where are you as a Christian? Right? Are you in the falling asleep mode, or are you somewhere in dream mode that things would somehow be different. So Tim Keller wrote 9 questions for sleepy and nominal Christians. First one, how real has god been this week to your heart? How real has god been this week, this day, this moment to your heart? How clear and vivid is your assurance and certainty? Assurance and certainty of god's forgiveness and fatherly love. Critical, ain't it? How clear and vivid base paid is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Are you having any particular seasons of sweet delight in god, or do you remember times long ago? Do you sense his presence in your life? Do you sense his presence, his moving? To me, and also, do you see him through the day? Even in little things, do you see him? Oh, tell us the lord. Do you see him? Have you been finding scripture to be alive and active? Have you been finding scripture? Have you been reading scripture? Are you finding certain certain biblical promises extremely precious and encouraging? Because when we're in his word, he speaks, doesn't he? Speaks, and he speaks in different ways in different times. Beth and I were talking yesterday, and this has been we're in this struggle time, not with each other, but we've got some issues we're struggling with. And we were talking about I just thought how the Lord does this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:42

We're talking about, I think, Christian music. When that we're talking about Christian music. And I remembered, Leslie Phillips and a song that she wrote and how she got disgusted with the Christian music scene. This was when we first came to Christ and changed her name and went on to play music somewhere else. But she had a song, be the strength of my life. And we played it, and it was just it was it's just so moving. And great. It's be the strength of my life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:10

You wanna check it out, Leslie Phillips. It's an old song, but it speaks to the fact God needing to be our strength. Well, that was that was a thing God did. He speaks. He he answers. He comes to you when you're needed. Do you are you seeing that? Is god challenging you and calling you through the word? And not just speaking comfort, but challenge and call. Comfort, challenge, calling.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:36

Those are three things that god does through his word, isn't it? He comforts us, but he's also challenging us and calling us. What ways is he doing that? Are you finding god's grace deeper and more glorious and more necessary. Deeper and more glorious and more necessary. Manna mercies. Are you eating of god's manna mercies, or are you trying to go days without his mercy? Right? Stack up the manna. Remember, there are manna mercies, manna graces. You can see in your in your personal confessional life do you have a growing sense of evil in your own heart? Ye. Independence upon the mercy of god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:27

Ye. You go from ye to yay, but you don't go yay in the mercies of god till you know the ye of the deepness and the the depth of of sin within me. I thought, you know what? Longer I go with the lord, I'm definitely gonna get better. The more I see him, the more I see the depth of my own sin. Right? It's in it's in my pores. It's below. It's the, you know, it's the stuff. The word of God is living and active.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:57

It's sharper than a 2 edged sword piercing of sword, the division of soul and spirit above joints and marrow, verse after that, he says, to whom before whom all things are laid bare. The reminder when I go in with the lord is he he knows everything about me. You know? And, 1, I don't need to hide. And number 2, I can't hide because he sees it. He sees the depth of my my my sin clearly. It's not a it's not a a revelation to him. It is to me as he shows me. Oh, there, greed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:38

Oh, there, lust. Oh, there, right, pride. Right? Oh, there, envy. Oh, there, hatred. Oh, their murder. Oh, their right. Oh, it will yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:52

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then I'm left with the mercies of god, the mercies, which I keep wondering when they will exhaust themselves. What you wonder is the is the mercy tank gonna be empty? And it reminds me, no. It springs from me. Therefore, it is eternal. The mercies are eternal. Mhmm.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:18

Eternal mercies. So good questions, aren't they? Wake up the soul. Right? Evict and stir. And he said, be on alert. Be on alert. So they'll teach, you know, the seals and the rangers and the other folks and this these are retired. I think he's a colonel Cooper. Talks about 4 levels of awareness, 4 levels of alertness, in other words.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:45

Right? White level is when I'm unaware and unprepared. Yellow level is when I am relaxed but alert, paying attention. Right? So they would say when any situation they go in, they're always alert. They're looking for, is there anything to pay attention to? Right? They're alert to the surroundings. They're not disconnected. Right? That when I move into orange, it's because there's a oh, pay attention. Specific. Something's happening here, and then red is I'm engaged.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:20

That make sense? So the suggestion there would be to unless you're, you know, you're white, if you're maybe in a unique situation where you're rest and refreshed and recovering. But, generally, we wanna be moving around in yellow, which is relax but alert. Relax but alert. And, of course, our world is designed to be lost and and on alert and unaware and unengaged. The world is being taught to be done to do that, aren't they? Like, they're taught to do this. This is what we do. Spend our life doing this. Diabolically designed to to addict you to dopamine rushes every 3 seconds.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:09

Right? So that we are not alert. We are not alert. What the enemy would love you to do is swipe your way to hell. That's what the enemy wants you to do, swipe your way to hell. Right? Be be unprepared and disconnected. Right? Swipe your way to hell. So the the idea would be be in relaxed alert state. And for us, this is particularly challenging because we are alert to the unseen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:36

Right? We are alert to an unseen enemy. Well, dang. This is hard enough. Right? But it's just the ideas that that we're in there. So he says in first Thessalonians, so that then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. Just be prepared. So it's a it's a question. What stage do you live your life in? And there are times when you're in battle and you forget.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:05

As we go through this, you know, last night so the alert is last night, they're not super sensitive, and we have these, like, exaggerated responses where we're at each other. And then it starts to be, duh. Don't you understand the evil one would seek to what? To divide. A house divided and that's sand. Hello? So it that should be a general alert. Oh, this is unusual. What is happening here? Oh, okay. We're in a time of we're in a time where we're moving through stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:36

So you can be praying for us, but it was it was and then I wake up and do this, and I go, oh, oh, yeah. I'm so yeah. So we start the morning with singing that'd be the strength of my life. We end with, here's what happens if you do this on your own. Oh. Oh. Oh, yeah. I get it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:54

Right? A reminder. As you go through right. When when we have specific alerts, we need to be more in prayer and more dependent. Does that make sense? Be be attuned that things things are you know, would be you're in phases of your life when there's a specific challenge. But, generally, I think the Lord would have us in relax to look with that word. We're paying attention, right, to what happens. Does that make sense? Mhmm. And then he says, keep watching and keep praying.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:26

Without repetition, pray. What's it say? At all times in the spirit. At all times is literally all seasons. All seasons. These aren't just winter tire. They're all season tires, which means the good in the heart, pray at all times. Devote yourself, be alert, and pray that you not enter into temptation. As as often as I've thought about the Lord's prayer, even prayed the first couple of verses.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:58

Right? Our father art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Right? I I often don't go into the second part. I do specific, but I miss that lead us not into temptation. I don't think I pray that very often. I didn't think about till then, but Jesus said, pray this way. Oh, that way. According to this pattern, don't just pray the words, but pray according to this pattern. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:39

Some would expand it to be the evil one, literally. Deliver us from the evil one. I love this in Psalms. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing. Good prayer for your heart. And then the the other is incline my heart to thee into thy testimonies. Right? But but not and to practice deeds of wickedness with people who do wrong. And may I not listen to that? Is that great? May I not taste their delicacies? Why? Because I love the stuff of the world system.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:11

In other words, he's saying don't get a flavor for the those. Right? The world system. World system. And people get bent out of shape. I think you pray that. Why would God lead you into temptation? What is that prayer like? Like, stop. God does not tempt. Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:30

God does not tempt. Let no one say when he's tempted, what? Untempted by god. Don't say that. For god cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. We're tempted. Lord, keep me from the past where the temptation is the greatest. Right? Lord, keep me. And then he says, don't do that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:53

Well, I'm doing that. But I said, don't do that. Don't go there. Don't enter into that stuff. Don't do that. I know, but I'm doing it. So lead me not into temptation is as much it's not about God as it is about me. Right? Get my heart to the place where I don't walk into temptation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:18

Right? It says in I mean, if you look at problem 56, it says young man, stupid young man. I see him naive. What's he do? He walks in her way. He goes down the street where she lives. At the end of that, right, there's a way that seems right to the man, but the ends there are the ways of death. Right? Well, he says the flesh is weak. Yeah. But I was thinking about it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:41

No. Not when it's worrying against me, it's not weak. The flesh is weak against temptation, but not when it's worrying against you. It's not weak at all. The flesh is strong. Fleshly lust, which do what? Wage war. Not bother you or annoying or like a pest. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:09

They wage war. What do they wage war against? The soul. How about the law of sin? It wages war against the law of your mind. So my fleshly lust is waging war against my soul. Right? The law of sin is waging war against the law of my mind, and then we have the devil. And he's the father of lies, and he does that. Right? What is that? Exemption, accusation, and temptation. Deception, accusation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:43

You're not a Christian. You can't be a Christian. You can't confess. You can't do you can't confess that again. Temptation. Hey. Try this. Try that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:54

How about this? This stuff looks good, doesn't it? So the flesh is weak. The flesh is weak against temptation, but it's not weak when it's warring against me. But he says the spirit is willing. But put it in there. You want a more willing spirit? Well, how do we do that? We sow to it. Scripture says we sow to our spirit. Well, it's kind of reaping and sowing that thing that's principle that happens in nature. It happens in your soul.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:27

So if scripture says you can sow to your flesh, I know how to do that. In fact, for 28 years, I had advanced degrees in sowing to my flesh. I was working very hard at sowing to my flesh, reaping the fruit of sowing to my flesh. He says, do not be deceived, for god is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Oh, I hate those principles, don't you? He hella make up of the farm. Whatever you sow on the farm that you will read. Mouth mowing the grass yesterday.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:05

I don't seem to have to. I don't put on weed be grow. You know, if you don't throw on, like, weed fertilizer, You don't plant weeds. You don't fertilize weeds. You don't they just grow. If there's no water, they grow more. Like, what's up? That's like our soul. Right? The weeds grow.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:27

They weed. So he says, if you sow to your flesh, what will you reap? It says corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. So put over there a line and that. If you were to guess, you don't have to share that with anybody, the percentage of your life that you sold to the spirit, percentage of your life that you sold to the spirit. Hey. What hefford does this? It's not to beat you. It's to recognize on our farm, Right? You'll you you reap what we sow.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:07

It's just a principle. It is a principle. Just to think through what's the percentage of my life that I sold to the spirit. And the challenge is as you go if you think about the challenge is the longer you go as a Christian, sometimes the less you can start to coast. You can say, well, I sowed a long time. Why do I have to keep sowing? I did that before. I did that before. There's some understanding that I get that the that the lord has dropped down for me in priority, and he caused the wake up call.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:41

Right? He doesn't beat me on it. He just says, hey. By the way, understand sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping. We facilitate the spirit's work in our life. Right? If you, by the spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. We help, if you will. We co labor out into the world, don't we? We're co laborers, don't they say? We co labor with with God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:08

We also co labor for our own soul. We co labor out into the world with him, and we also co labor with him for our own soul. I'm only as good out here as I am in here. And recognizing, he's showing us that there's a battle out here. Jesus saying, I've got a battle. It's gonna happen because he's gonna say the get up, get ready, the hour has come. He said, that battle, your ability to stand in that battle is what you're doing in this battle, your personal internal sowing to your soul. Right? Does that make sense? Mhmm.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:44

You will he because he's gonna say to him, okay. Time's up. The hours come. Let's go. And now we're out into action, and we're gonna see they are unprepared. Right? They will be unprepared, but it's just to remind us. Whatever a man sows. So sowing to the spirit.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:00

What percentage of your life or your or your day are you showing to the spirit? And then I think the big picture lesson is that, don't fight the battle in your own strength. Don't fight it in your own will. I will. Peter says, I will. No. You won't. Your will won't. Your will won't do it in the battle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:26

Don't fight in your own strength. Don't fight in your own strength. Be strong in the lord and the strength of his might. The lord's strong and mighty. The lord mighty in battle. Yahweh is mighty in battle. So I put on there. What battle are you in right now? What battle are you in right now? Don't fight it on your own screen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:50

That's all. He's saying don't fight on your own screen. There's some preparation for it, but you're gonna see god, like, Jesus goes before him. We before that. He's gonna say, time's up. Let's go step into battle. He's the god who goes before and the god who comes behind. The glory of the lord is our rearguard, but we don't battle alone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:09

Don't fight in your own strength. Don't be sleeping, but don't fight in your own strength. Be alert. Be ready. Be sowing to your spirit. Alright. Write down the insight. And may the god whose mercies never end.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:27

May he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and give you his shalom deep in your soul. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and each minute of every day. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:49

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.