"Why Do I Keep Messing Up?" | Matthew 26:41

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. I gotta ask you a question. Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and you said something or you thought something or carried out something that really was not very godly at all? And you said to yourself, how uncharacteristic of me, how inconsistent with who I claim to be. How could I have ever said that or done that or thought that?

[00:00:30] Right? Sometimes we just are amazed by our sinful condition and some of the things that we say we'll never do, but we end up doing. Why is that?

[00:00:42] When you think about people in the Bible besides Jesus, who you emulate, respect and look up to, who are some of those? Well, it might be David.

[00:00:50] I mean, David wrote 75 Psalms. He was the one that said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want all of that. He said some amazing things in the Psalms.

[00:00:58] I will lift up my eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help. David was an amazing man of God, a God, a man after God's own heart, right? What about Peter?

[00:01:07] I mean, Peter was asked, who do people say that I am? The disciples answered, but Jesus said, you're the Christ, the son of the living God.

[00:01:14] He was making an incredible confession. And Jesus said upon this rock, namely the confession you've made, I'm going to build my church.

[00:01:23] What about the apostle Paul? The apostle Paul said, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation who shall separate us from the love of God.

[00:01:31] He mentions all these things and he says, no, in Christ we're more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[00:01:35] Some of the most amazing words of all of scripture were penned by the apostle Paul.

[00:01:42] But what can we say about them? You know what happened with David?

[00:01:46] He lusted after another man's wife committed adultery with her and killed her husband.

[00:01:52] What about Peter? Well, you know what happened with him?

[00:01:55] He denied Jesus, not just once, twice, but three times after the rooster crowed.

[00:01:59] What about Paul? He was a persecutor of the church. And he said this about himself.

[00:02:04] Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm the worst.

[00:02:10] He talked about in Romans seven, the good I want to do, I don't do.

[00:02:13] So you think about that. So why are we capable of such heinous things when we say we're believers and are believers in Jesus?

[00:02:22] Well, listen to this. Remember, Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane.

[00:02:25] He's brought three of his friends, Peter, James and John, to stay awake with him.

[00:02:29] Of course, they don't. And he comes to them after he finds them asleep and says this in verse 40.

[00:02:37] And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy.

[00:02:41] And he said this in verse 41.

[00:02:43] Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[00:02:47] Listen to this. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

[00:02:55] What do you mean by that?

[00:02:57] You might have good intentions empowered by the spirit of God.

[00:03:01] Jesus was saying to them to do the right thing, to say the right thing, to believe the right thing, to carry out the right thing in your life.

[00:03:11] But because that sin nature, your flesh is weak.

[00:03:15] That sin nature is a part of you.

[00:03:17] You're not always able to carry it out.

[00:03:20] You think about what the disciples did that night.

[00:03:22] Not only did they fall asleep, but they ran away.

[00:03:26] Peter denied Jesus.

[00:03:28] None of the disciples were there when Jesus was tried before Pilate, before Caiaphas, before Herod.

[00:03:34] They all were no shows. Right.

[00:03:36] So the very sin nature that Jesus was talking about in the garden of Gethsemane was powerfully exemplified,

[00:03:42] exemplified in a negative way in what they did that night and in the following days.

[00:03:47] Right. So why did they do that?

[00:03:50] Because they're sinners.

[00:03:52] Why do we do the things, say the things, think the things that we sometimes do?

[00:03:56] Because we're sinners.

[00:03:58] What do we have in common with Paul and Peter and John and Thomas and David and all these, James and John,

[00:04:07] all these different disciples and great prophets?

[00:04:10] What do we have in common with them?

[00:04:12] Here it is.

[00:04:13] Don't miss it.

[00:04:14] We're sinners saved by grace.

[00:04:19] Think about this.

[00:04:21] After Jesus said those words in the garden of Gethsemane, the very next day, he went to die for Paul, for Peter, for David, for James, for John.

[00:04:32] All these different guys who said, you can count on me.

[00:04:35] He died for them.

[00:04:36] And here's the thing.

[00:04:37] He died for you, too.

[00:04:39] All the times you've failed the Lord and all the times you've looked at your life and say, how could I have said that, done that, bought that?

[00:04:45] That's so uncharacteristic of me.

[00:04:47] It's so inconsistent with who I am.

[00:04:49] Jesus took that sin and he allowed it to nail him to the cross and he paid for it once and for all right there so that God's declaration upon your life is forgiven child of God.

[00:05:05] Thanks be to God for that.

[00:05:07] So the next time you find yourself doing something that you thought I could have never done that.

[00:05:13] Well, just remember this.

[00:05:15] You're forgiven child of God.

[00:05:17] Rejoice in that.

[00:05:19] Hitch your faith wagon to the finished work of Jesus and exalt in who you are.

[00:05:25] Here's your identity.

[00:05:27] Your identity is not rooted in what people say about you or what your profession is or what maybe your vocation is in life.

[00:05:35] Your identity is defined by this child of God saved by grace.

[00:05:42] And yes, you're going to find yourself sometimes doing the very things that you hate.

[00:05:46] Why?

[00:05:47] Because that sin nature clings to you.

[00:05:49] But Jesus died for sin.

[00:05:52] He died for sinners.

[00:05:53] And you're loved and forgiven by God.

[00:05:56] You're probably thinking, Pastor Dave, why do you preach the gospel so much?

[00:06:00] Because I sin daily.

[00:06:02] And so do you.

[00:06:03] And it's good to hear, despite my sin, that I'm still loved, forgiven, and accepted by God.

[00:06:10] I love to preach that.

[00:06:12] I hope and pray that you love to hear it.

[00:06:15] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:06:17] And that is today's Daily Truth.