A recent (2013) Super Bowl ad, featuring the Mercedes Benz CLA, packs a powerful message. Take a look (show Mercedes Benz 2013 Super Bowl commercial). The ad starts with a thirty-something man sitting in a cafe. As the waitress serves him a cup of coffee, the man looks out the window and sees two workmen unveiling a new billboard for the Mercedes CLA. His eyes look longingly at the car when a man dressed in black sits across the table from him. The Satan-figure (played by Willem Defoe) says, “Nice car!” “Sure is,” the young man agrees.
The Devil himself then holds a gold fountain pen in his fingers with pointed and polished fingernails. He says temptingly, “Make a deal with me, kid, and you can have the car and everything that goes along with it.”
As the young man takes the pen, he visualizes himself in a series of scenes that represent all the world has to offer. In the first scene he drives his Mercedes to a red carpet awards ceremony, exiting the car with a gorgeous woman on his arm. In the next scene, he's at a nightclub dancing side-by-side with his good buddy singer-songwriter Usher. Then the young man is driving his car with several attractive women as passengers. In the next scene he's a popular model being photographed for trendy magazines. Finally, as he jumps into his car to escape a mob of women, he's suddenly driving a Formula One race course speeding by the lead car.
Then the ad shifts back to the young man back at the table in the café. The tempter asks, “So what do you say?” Holding the gold pen, the young man's eyes stare down at the contract and then gaze out the window where he sees the relatively low price of the Mercedes on the billboard. He says to the devil, “Thanks, but I think I've got this!” And immediately, the tempter disappears in a cloud of smoke. (vimeo.com/58895204; www.PreachingToday. com)
Sad to say, that’s the way many people handle temptation. They say to themselves, “I’ve got this,” expecting the tempter to disappear in a cloud of smoke, but what really happens when we approach life with that attitude? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 14, Mark 14, where Jesus’ own disciples had this attitude.
Mark 14:27 Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away” [lit., you will all be scandalized, you will all be offended] for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
What is about to happen to Jesus will so scandalize his disciples that they will run as fast and as far away from Him as they possibly can. They don’t want the same thing happening to them, so they will scatter to the winds.
Mark 14:28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” (ESV)
Even though troubling times are ahead, even though His disciples will fail Him, Jesus holds out the promise of restoration. Oh, what grace! It’s like He says to them, “Hey, I’m going to be killed. You’re going to desert me for fear of your lives, but we’ll get together again. I’ll meet you all in Galilee after I rise from the dead.”
Mark 14:29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” (ESV)
Even though all the rest are scandalized, I will not be in the least bit offended. I will stick by you no matter what. In other words, “Jesus, I’ve got this. You don’t have to worry about me. I can handle whatever happens, so count on me.” That’s Peter’s attitude, but look at what Jesus says to him.
Mark 14:30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” (ESV)
Jesus says to Peter, “You will not only desert me; you will disown me not once, not twice, but three times before sunrise in just a few hours.” You see, it’s already late in the evening. The Passover meal starts at sundown and lasts a few hours, and this all happens after the Passover meal. So it’s probably about 10 or 11 at night (maybe later). In other words, Jesus is telling Peter, “In less than 8 hours, you will disown me three times.”
Mark 14:31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. (ESV)
They ALL said, “I’ve got this!” But Peter says it with vehemence. How ironic that just a few hours later in verse 71, Peter uses the same vehemence to swear that he never knew Jesus. You see, pride goes before a fall every time. So when you face a crisis…
DON’T DEPEND ON YOUR OWN STRENGTH.
Don’t boast about how you’ve “got this”. Don’t brag about your own abilities. Don’t rely on your own will-power, because it will fail you every single time, just like it did Peter and all Jesus’ disciples.
You see, if anybody should have remained loyal to Jesus, it was His own disciples, who spent the last three years with Him. The heard His wonderful teaching. They saw His miracles. They experienced His power on a daily basis. Previously, when the crowds left Jesus because they were offended by His teaching, His own disciples stuck by Him. Jesus asked them in John 6, “Do you want to go away as well?” And Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).
If anybody should have remained loyal to Jesus, it was His own disciples, especially Peter. But when the crisis came, their own will-power was not enough to keep them from shamefully turning away from Jesus. You see, not even the best of us can remain faithful in our own strength.
In his book Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon, Michael P. Ghiglieri chronicles the nearly 700 deaths that have occurred in the Grand Canyon since the 1870s. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep in some places (6,000 feet). On top of that, the extreme temperatures (which often exceed 100 degrees) can quickly lead to heatstroke and dehydration, so no one is surprised that people die in and around the Grand Canyon.
What is surprising is that many die through their own carelessness. According to Ghiglieri, a number of people have gone “over the edge”, because they ignored posted warnings and walked out on to dangerous precipices.
For example, in 1992, a 38-year-old father jokingly tried to frighten his teenage daughter by leaping on to a guard wall. He flailed his arms as he pretended to lose his balance. Then he comically “fell” onto a ledge he assumed was safe. But sadly, after ignoring numerous warning signs, he lost his footing and really fell 400 feet into the void below.
Then in 2012, an 18-year-old woman who was hiking on the North Rim Trail decided to venture off the beaten path to have her picture taken at a spot known as Inspiration Point. As she sat down on the ledge of the 1,500-foot deep canyon, the rocks gave way, and she plummeted to her death.
These deaths were not only tragic; they were also completely avoidable. If only people didn’t have the attitude, “I can get close to the edge without falling.”
How many of us approach sin with the same attitude, an attitude of self-confidence that makes us think we can get real close without crossing the line? We avoid God’s warning signs and then edge right up to disaster, confident that we – unlike other people – can avoid the crash. (Tom Ricks, Kirkwood, Missouri; www.PreachingToday.com)
We get over-confident, and that over-confidence leads to a fall every time. Now, that’s not just what the Bible says. That’s also the conclusion of current scientific research.
Dr. Loran Nordgren, a senior lecturer at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, ran a series of experiments that placed college students in “tempting situations” to smoke, eat junk food, or forgo studying. The research found that we often display what's called a “restraint bias.” In other words, we tend to overestimate how much self-control we will have against temptation when we're not in the “heat of the moment.” Our “restraint bias” causes us to think that we can handle more temptation than we actually can. Dr. Nordgren warned that “Those who are most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give in to temptation.”
So how do we deal with our deluded sense of self-control? Dr. Nordgren, who works for a secular university, sounded very biblical when he advised, “The key is simply to avoid any situations where vices and other weaknesses thrive and, most importantly, for individuals to keep a humble view of their willpower.” (Jeanna Bryner, “Temptation Harder to Resist Than You Think, Study Suggests,” Live Science, 8-3-09; www.PreachingToday.com)
I love it when our secular scientists finally catch up with the Bible. They’re discovering what he Bible has said all along: Don’t be over confident; don’t depend on your own will-power to keep you safe from falling. Don’t depend on your own strength. Instead, when you face a crisis…
DEPEND ON THE LORD.
Recognize your own vulnerability and rely on God. Watch out for the pitfalls and pray like crazy. That’s what Jesus Himself did. He had a very different attitude than his disciples as He approached the cross and the temptation to resist the Father’s will.
Mark 14:32-34 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” (ESV)
All this takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane, a very fitting place for what Jesus is experiencing. Gethsemane literally means “a press of oils,” and it describes a place where a press crushes oil out of olives. Jesus was being severely pressed. Verse 33 says he was “greatly distressed and troubled”. He was overwhelmed with alarm and anguish.
Strong notes that the Greek word for “troubled” is the strongest of the three Greek words in the New Testament for depression. Jesus does not go into the coming crisis with a self-confident bravado, as one might expect of the Son of God. Instead, He enters His great hour of trial with dreadful sorrow and anxiety, fully dependent upon His Heavenly Father to see Him through.
Mark 14:35-36 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (ESV)
The “cup” was the cup of God’s wrath against sin (Isaiah 51:17,22), which Jesus was getting ready bear on our behalf. He was not dying for His own sins; He was dying for your sins and mine. And the prospect of experiencing His Father’s anger against our sin was almost more than He could bear.
From eternity past, Jesus had experienced intimate fellowship with a loving, Heavenly Father. It is all He had known. Now, for the first time, Jesus was about to be alienated from that love. For the first time Jesus was going to experience a powerful, angry Father, who was going to pour out His cup of wrath because of our sins. Jesus was not distressed about the physical suffering he was about to experience; He was distressed because He couldn’t stand such alienation from His Papa, even for a few hours.
Look at how Jesus addresses God in verse 36: “Abba, Father” – Papa, Daddy. “Abba” was a term of endearment used by children in Jesus’ day when they addressed their fathers. Up until this point, Jewish people never used “Abba” to address God, but Jesus used it, because that’s who God is to Him – His papa, His daddy. And Jesus comes to His Papa, expressing the anguish of His own heart and asking to be exempt from the experience of such dreadful separation. Nevertheless, He submits to His Father’s will – “not what I will, but what you will,” He says to His Papa.
Jesus won the battle with temptation not through a self-confident bravado, which says, “I’ve got this.” No. He won the battle with temptation through an agonizingly humble dependence upon His Heavenly Father. And He urges us, His followers, to do the same. Look at what He says to Peter.
Mark 14:37-38 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Jesus is not so much concerned about having friends in his hour of trial, as he is concerned about His disciples’ vulnerability. They had expressed such self-confident bravado that He knew they were very open to failure, so He urges them, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation”. You see, they had boldly declared that they would die for Jesus, but they couldn’t even stay awake with Him for one hour. This happened not once, not twice, but three times!
Mark 14:39-42 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
The great “drama” is about to begin, but the disciples are woefully unprepared because of their complacent pride. Three times Peter had failed to watch and pray; three times he would fall into temptation and disown Jesus.
This is a warning to all of us, especially to those of us who have walked with Jesus for several years. We cannot grow complacent and lazy in our walk with Christ, full of bravado and self-confidence. Instead, we must watch and pray lest we too fall into temptation.
First of all, Jesus says watch! Stay awake! Be alert! The temptation to sin is so subtle, so devious; it can overwhelm you before you even know what hit you.
In his book, Tempted and Tried, Russell Moore talks about a scientist named Temple Grandin who is researching new ways to gently kill cows. It's an important issue because if the animals experience high stress levels prior to death, hormones get released that lower the meat quality. So Grandin has been exploring how to keep the cattle calm as they are being led to slaughter.
Grandin's research has led to one simple insight: novelty distresses cows. The key is to keep everything in their lives feeling and looking as normal and natural as possible. Russell Moore summarizes Grandin's techniques for gently killing the cows:
Workers shouldn't yell at the cows, [Grandin] says, and they should never use cattle prods, because they are counter-productive and unneeded. If you just keep the cows contented and comfortable, they'll go wherever they're led. Don't surprise them, don't unnerve them, and above all, don't hurt them (well, at least not until you slit their throats at the end).
Along the way, [Grandin] devised a new technology that has revolutionized the ways of the big slaughter operations. In this system the cows aren't prodded off the truck but are led, in silence, onto a ramp. They go through a "squeeze chute," a gentle pressure device that mimics a mother's nuzzling touch. The cattle continue down the ramp onto a smoothly curving path. There are no sudden turns. The cows experience the sensation of going home, the same kind of way they've traveled many times before.
As they mosey along the path, they don't even notice when their hooves are no longer touching the ground. A conveyor belt slightly lifts them gently upward, and then … a blunt instrument levels a surgical strike right between the eyes. They're transitioned from livestock to meat, and they're never aware enough to be alarmed by any of it. The pioneer of this technology commends it to the slaughterhouses and affectionately gives it a nickname. [Grandin] calls it "the stairway to heaven." (Russell D. Moore, Tempted and Tried, Crossway, 2011, pp. 25-26; www.Preaching Today.com)
How like the tempter. He keeps us contented and comfortable, promising us a “stairway to heaven” until he knocks us out cold right between the eyes. How many times have I heard from people trying to justify their sin, “But it feels so right”? Well, let me tell you: the more tranquil you feel, the more in danger you are.
So watch! Stay awake! Be alert! And pray. Like Jesus, depend on your Heavenly Father. Humbly express your own weakness before your Heavenly Papa, and plead for His help.
In 2003, while hiking in Blue John Canyon in Utah, Aron Ralston was trapped by a chock stone that pinned his right arm to one wall of a crevice. After surviving for five days on 500 ml of water and exhausting all other options, he fashioned a homemade tourniquet, cut off his arm with a blunt pocket knife, and stumbled out of the canyon to find help.
On the way into the canyon, Aron was a cocky, 27-year-old, self-centered young man with music blaring in his headphones. He had ignored phone calls from his mother and his sister, incessantly snapped pictures of himself, and flirted with girls he met on the trail. Clearly, Ralston didn’t need or want anyone else in his life.
Then, all of a sudden, he's motivated to fight for his life by the memory of an ex-girlfriend looking at him with a mixture of pain and pity and saying, “You're going to be so lonely, Aron.” He realized he had made a terrible mistake by isolating himself and wants another chance to live differently, so he cuts off his arm and escapes to freedom.
When he got out of the canyon, he saw some other hikers a little way ahead. Barely audible at first he said, “Help me.” Then, bellowing hoarsely, he cried out, “Please, Help Me!” The hikers heard him and turn around, puzzled. Then, seeing what's happened, they came running. (Wesley Hill, “Love Is a Cry for Help,” Critique, 2011:2, pp. 14-15; www.PreachingToday.com)
There are many people who walk into situations with a self-centered cockiness that eventually gets them into a lot of trouble. Maybe that’s some of you. Well, it’s never too late to change your attitude and cry out for help. Even if you have already fallen hard, Your Heavenly Daddy will hear and come running to your aid.
In life, don’t depend on your own strength. Instead, depend on the Lord. “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
