Your Annual Inspection

Each year in Scottsdale, Arizona, aircraft manufacturers from around the world bring in their new and improved models of airplanes, of civilian aircraft and small jets. And it's quite a show. To get an invitation to this show means not only do you get to go in and sit in all the airplanes, but you also get a wonderful lunch and opportunity to talk to the manufacturers and the salespeople. One of the expensive lines of European cars often will put on the show and promote it. This year there was racing on a racetrack that they'd set up at the airport. It was moved this year to a different airport so they could have a racetrack with professional drivers.

You drove the car for three laps and the drivers took you on a demonstration of what those cars could do. And so here was the latest and greatest of the high-end machinery that transports people of means. And it's quite an interesting show to attend.

Here today in this room we have the new and improved models of Christians. The best of the new and improved models that exist on Earth are in God's church today. And you and I are privileged to be among them. Now the interesting thing that happens in the world of aircraft is the annual inspection.

And I think you know where I'm going here, but the annual inspection is what makes aviation safe. You know, planes used to fall out of the sky with fair regularity. And yet today they don't. Aircraft are very safe. There's a reason why they're very safe. And it began with the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA in the United States, that began requiring an annual inspection. An annual inspection for every aircraft is required, and until it's performed, that aircraft cannot fly again. It is grounded.

Every 12 months, an airplane is essentially disassembled, and literally disassembled, in many of its minor parts. For instance, all the interior of a private aircraft comes out. All the floors are removed. All the panels underneath the wings are taken off.

The, what you might call the dashboard, or the front control panels, are examined. The engine cowlings all come off, and everything is examined with a fine-tooth comb. And it's examined for several days, typically. Now, an aircraft is a very complex machine. A very complex machine with a twist. It's made of very flimsy materials. The reason is, weight. For an airplane to take off and have good performance, it has to weigh as little as possible. And to weigh as little as possible, you want to make it with the lightest weight materials possible. And you know, lightweight materials kind of tend to be flimsy. It's a lot of aluminum, thin sheets of aluminum, and other very lightweight materials, sometimes polymers that are laid down in sheets. And these things are going in winds that are in excess of what we would call a category 5, probably 7 or 10 hurricane, which don't exist. Really extreme winds. These flimsy materials, full of people, just right on the edge of performance and failure. And so it is that once a year, this machine that's on the cutting edge has to be disassembled as much as possible and examined, and things are replaced on it.

Nothing is missed. Everything is inspected. My wife and I did an annual inspection on our home this week. It's nearly complete. Every nook and cranny and drawer and cupboard and ingredient on a package was opened up. It's kind of like that annual inspection of an airplane. Each type of aircraft has what are called known issues. I'll give you a really obvious example of a known issue. Back in the 1960s, the Beechcraft Company, which makes the King Air and other high-end planes, made a private plane for the wealthy, especially for doctors. It's a four or six-place plane with a really comfortable cabin.

It's a heavy plane, single engine, fun to fly, and they made it with a V-tail. Something really unique. Instead of a vertical stabilizer and a horizontal stabilizer in the back, like you normally see in an airplane, they got rid of all that, and they just made a V. The little ailerons were on the V, and this was supposed to take the plane place of three surfaces.

It works pretty well. The only thing was, it became known as the Doctor Coffin, because the V-tail tended to fall off during flight. That's a known issue. I've flown the V-tail Bonanza, and it's very safe, and I would have no trouble getting in another one, because the FAA grounded the fleet and required that a new section be placed in there to connect the fuselage with that V-tail.

That's why they're safe today. So known types have known issues. Now, there are two models of humans, male and female. There are some variations. There's the new brothel. There's the improved model. But we're pretty much male and female. And each type has known issues. We read of them in the manual. And there are known things to look for. Now, in an airplane, the known things may be in one type of airplane where cables attach to rudders on the plane, or various brakes and other things you may have certain connectors, there can be wear points.

So on a certain model of airplane, the FAA will send out a directive. On this airplane, you have to examine this every year. Maybe every other year you have to replace that part. Known issues. Today we have a published manual that God's people use. And in this manual, it prescribes an annual inspection, oddly enough, at this time of year. And you really shouldn't fly this model, drive it, whatever you say, without doing an annual inspection. It says in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 28, But let a man or let a person examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of the cup.

That gives us the timeline in which the annual inspection is to take place, just before Passover. Now, it's one thing to come up with an analogy of an annual inspection, or the literal annual inspection, and it's another thing to know what to look for. How do you do an inspection? Where do you start? How do you go about it? For instance, if I were to join you for an annual inspection of a Boeing aircraft that flies passengers, they might tear all the engine cowlings off and all the underwing surfaces for us and open it all up and say, Okay, go ahead and inspect it!

That's kind of what it's like this time of year for you and me as we look at ourselves. We walk up to the jet engine and say, well, hmm, I see it's there. It's on tight. I see the wings are there and there's hydraulic lines, but I don't know. Is there anything wrong? It's a very complex machine. I'm unfamiliar with how to inspect it. Looks good to go! Bolt it back together and take off. Is that kind of how we can look at ourselves and say, well, I think it's working pretty well. Not really sure what to see here.

So today I'd like to mention to you in this sermon entitled, Your Annual Inspection, that there are several tendencies of human nature that we can test. And it's good to check these. It's good to test for them. You and I need to do our own annual inspection. And today we're going to take a look at the last things that Christ taught His disciples around the time of the Passover and just afterward.

We're going to take a look at some of the things, not necessarily the speeches that He made, but the events and what those events can teach us along with His teachings. They actually can give us a framework for the annual inspection of God's children.

We can look at our nature. We can see where the known tendencies are. We can have a checklist to go down and then see if we're airworthy.

You know, like the minister who once gave a sermon and said, I had a dream and all the saints were lifting off and meeting Christ in the air. And I wanted to lift off too, but I never lifted off. He wasn't airworthy. He eventually left the church too, sadly. But are we considered worthy to meet Christ in the air? Are we really in and of this faith?

In 2 Corinthians 3 and 5, the apostle Paul begins by telling us to examine ourselves whether we're in the faith. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. This is a very important thing because Jesus said many in that day will say to me, Lord, Lord, haven't we done wonderful things in Your name and prophesied and done the work, etc., etc. Capture your laws. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you. There's something flawed here. You were never really genuine. So we need to examine ourselves whether we're in the faith or whether we just got wet. I can't tell you how many people have come to me through my 35 years in the ministry and told me, you know, the first time I ever had a minister speak to me, he was asking me, what is your full name before he was putting me underwater? I've had people tell me, I didn't want to get baptized. I just was in the wrong line. So we should examine ourselves. Is there real repentance? Have we seen our nature? Are we seeing flaws? Or is the annual examination every year just saying, oh yes, perfect, stamp, another year, ready to go. When you go looking for leaven in your house, you say, didn't see any again, I'm good. So examine yourselves. No one else can do this but God and you. And like we heard in the sermon, we need God's help. We have to ask Him for repentance. We have to ask Him to reveal our flaws and our sins. We need help in this. And so the word examine is the Greek word, pyrazo. And from Thayer's Greek lexicon, it says, to make a trial of or a test of, for the purpose of ascertaining His quantity, what He thinks, how He will behave Himself.

Really ascertaining what is our mind, what is our character here, what is our motivation, what is my motivation here. We need to examine that motivation to see whether I'm in the faith. Continue on. The next phrase, it says, test yourselves. This word is different. This is dokimazo in the Greek. And it means to scrutinize, to see whether a thing is genuine or not. To test, to see if it's genuine or if it's not genuine. So this is a good test. You can see now how important these issues are every year.

Going on. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, indeed, you are disqualified. So let's examine six things that Jesus Christ taught us in His final hours here on earth. It's the things that He could leave us with, the things that give us a checklist of known issues for human nature or people with human nature. That the best and the brightest, as it were, of this world, who were the weak of the world, but with God's help, is making us the best and the brightest in that sense, can test themselves with. The first lesson is, your human nature seeks self-recognition, position, approval. Your human nature seeks self-recognition. We all have it. It's why you're wearing what you're wearing today. It's why you did your hair the way you did today. It's probably why you say and consider and think about what you're going to say and how you say it. It's that impression that we make on others, that we desire to make on others. It's the hope that somebody will notice you, recognize you, appreciate you, say, wow! We all have that. It's a known tendency of human nature. It's common to all models. Little differences in some ways, but it's common to all models. It happens all the time. You know, it even happens at Passover. You would think, no, not at Passover.

It even happens at Passover. You'll have to examine your own life, but when you come to Passover, ask yourself, am I looking for some recognition, some attention, some position, some notice in some way? Let's see how this worked over in Luke 22.

We see this is the Passover in verse 19.

He took the cup after supper, saying, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

Verse 24, Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them would be considered the greatest. There we are at Passover, and they're wondering, which of us will be the greatest? Passover, washing feet, blood, bread, am I the greatest?

You would think it's not possible. You'd just think, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No issue. And so Jesus teaches them in verse 25, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. Let him consider himself as less knowledgeable, less experienced, humble in that sense. And he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater? He who sits at the table or he who serves?

Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the one who serves. So there is the lesson, and it's not just about sitting at the table. I am there as the one who serves, and Jesus gave himself as one who was despised, as one who shame was brought upon him. He took all of the rotten sins of humanity and died the death of a criminal that was beneath the status of a Roman citizen.

He just took all of that on himself and humbled himself so that he could take your sins and mine and those of all who will repent. And he served in a magnificent way, a profound way, but a very humble way. In Philippians 2 and verse 3, we find that he has a mindset that is different than yours and mine. It's different than the nature that we have developed, and his mindset can be called the mind of Christ. Paul says to the church at Philippi, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.

It's not about me or me getting something. It's not about me serving. Oh, look how much I give and serve to other people expecting something in return, like notice. How many times do some of you donate to others under the condition that it will not be known who this comes from? It goes through a third or a fourth party sometimes. I want to help, but I do not want my name to be known as one who is helping, because I don't want any of the benefit. That's a wonderful thing. That's the right kind of mind.

Jesus did wonderful things, but he said, I can't do anything of myself. Only through the Father can I do anything. Let each of you look not out only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. We see a lot of that within the congregation, within God's people everywhere.

Is it perfect? No. We're after an annual inspection here. We're taking a look at some of the known type issues. We're saying, you know what? We're doing a lot better here, but there's something here that each year we need to focus on and examine. Going on. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

In other words, he was the great God through whom all was created. He was the God of the Old Testament, we call that period of time. He was a wonderful, great being. A lot of the hymns that we sing are Psalms that were written for him in particular.

So, there's nothing wrong with him being equal to God, but, verse 7, he made himself of no reputation, zero, nothing, taking the form of a bondservant, one who chose to be a slave, serving others, and came in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Something he didn't want to do, he sweat blood over, he prayed about, but he went forward with the Father's will.

And therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. See where the exaltation comes from? You and I were made to be great, but we were made for someone else to make us great.

And our self-attempts, recognition, attention, etc., these are not the mind of Christ. What we're told here is there's a way to be elevated, and if you have a godly mentality, you will be elevated in the kingdom. Also, just like Jesus Christ has now been elevated and he is at the right hand of God, so you will serve with him and be with him. The second lesson that God teaches us is that your human nature lacks Christ's faith. Your human nature lacks Christ's faith.

Now, I'm saying today, your human nature, because I'm trying to make this personal, but you know I'm speaking to myself, and I've been reviewing this now for a couple of weeks. I want to personalize this for each one of us. So, your human nature, John Elliott, and whatever your name is, lacks Christ's faith. I didn't say lacks faith in Christ. It lacks Christ's faith. Is it completely lacking?

Oh, no, I hope not. I hope that he is living in you with the Father and you have some of his faith, that there's a known type issue among those of us who have God's faith, and that is, it's lacking. It's lacking.

In Luke, chapter 22 and verse 31, we find that right around the time of the Passover, just thereafter, Jesus makes an astounding statement to Peter right out of the blue.

I don't know if you've ever been in a catastrophic situation before, but if you go back to the concept of an airplane, you can be flying along. Everything is good. The inspection took place six months ago. You pre-flighted the airplane. Everything is flying along great. It's at night. Your instruments are working.

And then the engine stops right out of the blue. It doesn't sort of stop over an hour or two. It just...

That's big. You didn't see it coming. You didn't know that was going to happen.

Let's notice here in Luke 22 and verse 31, here Simon Peter is zinging along in life. He's right next to Jesus Christ and everything's going well. And Jesus turns to him and says, Simon and Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.

Wow! See, that's something you didn't know. That in the spirit world, Satan himself has asked for you that he can put you through everything and squash you like a fly.

And boom! There it is.

But Jesus said in verse 32, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. Your faith should not fail.

And notice going on, and when you have returned to me, you will be departing from me because of this event.

When you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. You'll remember at the very end, after Jesus came back and visited the disciples, he asked Peter three times, do you love me? Peter said, I'm fond of you three times. He said, every time he said, feed my sheep. And here he says, when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

But he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

You know, I have faith. I have faith and I have confidence. And Peter did. Right there. He'd seen the miracles. Peter had his faith in God. He was full of faith in God.

And here's what I feel. I am ready to go with you to prison to death.

And then Jesus said to him, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you deny me three times.

Denying that you know me three times. You know, our human nature may have all the best intentions in the world, but we lack the faith of Christ in us.

In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, we're going to find that this type of faith comes from God Himself, and it's not something that you and I possess of and by ourselves.

Philippians 3, 8 says, Yes, indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness.

See, we need something that we don't have. Righteousness? Yes, we're to be righteous, but not having our own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith of Christ.

Your Bible may say faith in Christ, but that should read here the faith of Christ.

The righteousness of God, God living in you, performing His mind, your actions using His mind, your absolute trust from Him, that's His trust, His confidence.

The righteousness which is from God by faith, by God's faith. We need God. We need God's help.

And we can look in our inspection and see now whose effort, whose help, whose ability, whose power am I going through life on here?

Check it. Is it hydraulic? Is it electrical? Or is it spiritual? Hydraulics and electrical are fine, but they're going to let you down.

If you don't have the spiritual power of God in you, His faith and the righteousness by Him, you won't make it when Satan comes calling and saying, Ooh, can I sift you? Can I take you on? God's faith is a byproduct of having Him live in you. It's called His Holy Spirit.

It's Christ living in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. And that's how He comes to us. He lives in us via His Spirit.

And then we have a fruit of that Holy Spirit, which is His mind, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith, His faith.

That's a byproduct of having Him live in us. Let's go to Mark 14 and verse 50, and we'll see what happens as the story continues, where the disciples were so insistent that they were going to be strong. They had the dedication that it took.

Mark 14 and verse 50, it simply says, "...then they all forsook Him and fled." Well, that just happened just like that. Here they are, all going to be with you forever.

It just says, boom, they were gone. All 12, all 11 of them took off. They forsook Him and ran away.

But the previous two verses, notice here that Jesus Christ didn't run away. This is the biggest event. This is the challenging thing, the thing that so was overwhelming to Him. And in verse 48, when they showed up, the Roman soldiers and the Sanhedrin and Judas, and He knew what that meant. He said to them, Notice this phrase, That is faith. That is trust.

Jesus trusted His Father. He trusted the Word of God. He trusted the Scriptures. He had to be fulfilled and it was going to work out right. And He stood there and did not run away. He wasn't the 12th man or the 13th man fleeing. We need His faith.

The third lesson is, your human nature is right in its own eyes. It's right in its own eyes.

When I look at my nature, you know what I see? I see a person who thinks what I think is good.

What I come up with, what I devise, yeah, that works. That's going to work great. That's going to work out well. That's smart. That's intelligent. Or that's clever. Or it's cute. Or it's whatever, you know? But it's going to work out really well.

You go back to the two trees, Genesis 2. You find it fits right in with our type and model.

We think that self-determination is smart. It just really works. All we have to do is look out at society right now at the G20 conference. We have to look at Congress and the big bills and the bailout processes and the immigration policies and things like that.

And you just see the smarts that are there. And it's just jaw-dropping. It's just insane.

But it's so smart. It's so chic. And I haven't gotten into the details, but I've only seen little news clips and how the Europeans and the rest of the world were so down on what our president was going to recommend.

And the way we were going was like, ugh! And it looks like there's been a lot of camaraderie over there.

And a trillion dollars of money to bail out other countries is now going to take place. And everybody's got their arms around everybody. And it's wonderful.

Nobody's telling you that the trillion dollars is coming off of our printing presses that are going 24-7 printing money.

But it just sounds so, so knowledgeable, so wise. And so it is that we humans tend to think that we are wise.

In Isaiah 5 and verse 21, there's a statement, Woe to those, woe is a pretty strong word, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.

And yet, my type and model, when I do my annual inspection, I find, well, that's one of the pluses. That's got a big check. Like, that's good.

You know, you're on a good track. You're going a good way.

You need to open up that inspection panel and see what's really in there.

Dig around in there and see if it's really what it ought to be. See?

My airplane passed inspection just fine one time, and I was flying back from Yuma services, landing here at Chandler Airport, and touched down and nice touchdown, hit the brakes, and the plane began to, at about 100 miles an hour, began to sort of go to the right on the runway. That was odd.

It's a good plane, a Beechcraft model.

Applied a little more brakes, pulled a little harder to the right, began to start to slide sideways and begin to chatter.

Well, that didn't make any sense.

A little left rudder, a little more right brake, and the thing gripped a little more as it slowed down and left the runway, went between the runway marker lights and into the ditch in between the runways, and is now zipping along, turning up a whole bunch of dust and maybe some tumbleweeds.

It's like, what is going on? I tell that story with Pilings. He says, well, obviously there was a wind gust coming from the side, and he's just blowing you off the runway, and I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, that's what's happening, except the windsock is flat.

You know, you think that you're okay. You think you're zipping along until suddenly you're not, and you've blown out a hydraulic seal in your left brake line at the wheel, and it can come upon you all at once.

All at once. So those who are wise in their own eyes, whoa! And you think you're in, well, the Bible says, he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

The context here, going back to verse 14, it kind of takes my breath away.

Therefore, the grave has enlarged itself. What we're talking about here is a mass grave has been dug, a huge, deep hole has been dug to throw bodies into.

It's opened its mouth beyond measure, and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he who is jubilant, those who are so sure that they know what is good and what is right, and are wise in their own eyes, and they're right in their own eyes.

It says here, they will descend into it.

People shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.

That is the real context of what's happening.

Judas was warned about that by Jesus Christ. He was warned even at the Passover.

Judas, you know, one of you is going to be betraying me tonight. Fight against this. Pray!

But Judas said, I've got a good deal. I've got an easy deal here.

Fifty pieces of silver, and it's a no-brainer. This guy does miracles. I can't catch him.

It's free money. In Matthew 27, verse 3, we read the result of what was smart. It was intellectual. It was wise.

It was the cool thing to do. It was just so financially avant-garde.

And none of the other disciples saw the opportunity or had the opportunity.

Matthew 27, verse 3, then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned.

It's like, oh no! I didn't mean for that to happen. I mean, I'm with the guy who does the miracles.

He always escapes. He can do any and everything. And all of a sudden, he's been condemned?

Maybe what I did wasn't so smart after all. He was remorseful.

He's like, wow! That thing that I thought was so cool and so right and so logical, that was wrong.

And I just feel bad here. I bring back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? You see to it.

And then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and he departed and went and hanged himself.

He went and hanged himself. That's what he thought of his own human logic, being right in his own eyes.

Don't decide yourself. Don't lean to your own understanding.

Go to James 1 and verse 21 and find that we need to get God's direction.

We're not...our model and type is deficient in directing itself. We need to get God's direction.

James 1 verse 21.

Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow or abundance of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your lives.

Now what is being said here? The word meekness, priorities in the Greek, is an incredible word.

I've told you this before. I'll keep telling you because I have to keep telling myself meekness is unique in that it means, how to direct my life. I don't have the answers. I don't have the information. I am totally incapable of getting where I need to go and therefore I'm totally reliant on God for direction.

That's why Moses was the meekest of all men. He said, I don't know how to get the Israelites across the sea, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

God, you take us there. And he didn't ever tell God, no, don't turn this way or don't turn that way. Why are we going up to the sea?

He just was meek in that he knew it wasn't in him to direct his own steps.

And so here we are being told the same thing. Lay aside what you feel and with all meekness say, God, I don't know how to live.

I'm going to receive the implanted Word here which is able to save my life. My spiritual, eternal life can be saved if I do that which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

You know, on an annual inspection, certain things just don't make sense.

There is a line that runs from the engine into an oil filter and then a line runs back into the engine.

And that oil line, because there's not so many on any particular make and model, might cost you $300 for a rubber hose. It's just insane.

Now, do you think I'm going to replace a $300 hose when it's perfectly good? There's no leaks, there's no errors, there's nothing?

Well, of course not. I'm smarter than that.

And so, as many pilots will do, they're flying their airplane 10, 15,000 feet.

And their airplane suddenly seizes up the engine and goes, brrrr, brrr, brrr, brrr, brrr, brrr.

And there's oil all over the windshield. You can't even see out the windshield because these lines you see are down there in that hot engine cavity.

And they get really, really, really hot. And they kind of get hard and they get brittle.

And then they simply crack and break. The engine's shaking around up there and they'll all angle, brrr, brrr.

And it'll break right when you're flying. And guess what? No oil? No engine.

And oil on your windshield makes it really difficult to find a landing site, too, and be able to land on that.

And so, you see, having the meekness to say, all right, it's not what I would do. It's not what I would do.

But I'm told that it needs to be done. This is the way that I should live.

I'm going to have the trust in God. I'm going to have the trust in His Word. And I'm going to do what God says.

It's very important.

The fourth lesson is your human nature trusts in its own strength. Now, I'm like you. I'm a can-do kind of guy or a can-do kind of woman.

You know, we all have these things that we can do, and they're pretty cool. You know what you're good at.

You're pretty confident at it. And when you come up to that, you say, yeah, I can do this.

Whatever it is, you take a certain confidence. It might be the work that you do, the education that you have, the teaching, the training, or that good old Yankee ingenuity that you've developed that whatever goes wrong, you can get in there and make that happen.

You can fix it. You know, you can take a handful of bolts and you can make an airplane with it.

If you're lost in the desert, you can find your way. If there's nothing to eat in the house and the company shows up, you can pull together a meal with that, you know, that everybody will like.

And we all have this certain belief that, you know, I've got a spare tire in my car, and if I'm out in the middle of nowhere and my tire goes flat, buddy, I'll get her changed. And we'll keep this, you know, we'll keep this journey going.

And that's a good thing for humans to have. And yet, we can end up trusting in ourselves.

And we can have a confidence that is based on the self and run afoul.

Because, as James tells us, do not say, I will do this or I will do that.

Say, if God wills, I will do this or I will do that. Because of and by yourself, you can do nothing just as Jesus could do nothing. Let's look at an example here that happened right after the Passover in Matthew 26 and verse 31.

Matthew 26 and verse 31.

We say clearly to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

You know, a most shocking event would rot the disciples' world in the next 12 hours.

It would just change everything completely.

I want you to compare that event with what is going to happen in the future on this earth.

In Matthew 24 and verse 9, just a couple of pages back, here in the Olivet Prophecy, consider these telling you this.

This is a prophecy about the Church of God right before the period of the Tribulation or at the beginning of the Tribulation.

Very different than what we've been experiencing in our lifetime now.

Suddenly, He says this is going to come upon the world unexpectedly, just like a woman suddenly breaks into labor pains.

You never know when that's going to happen.

Verse 10, How are we going to do that?

The disciples were told, Tonight, you all will be scattered.

What's going to keep us from this hour of temptation that's going to come upon the whole world?

To make it clear, let's go to Daniel 8, verse 24.

At this prophesied time, we find the great religious leader, one of the beasts that's mentioned in Revelation, is spoken of in this way, Daniel 8, verse 24.

He will become very strong, but not by His own power.

No, He has the power of Satan behind Him.

He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever He does.

He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people.

Wow! When Jesus said to the disciples, You're going to be offended because of Me tonight. You're going to be scattered.

What about the future for you and me?

What about the ability for you and me not to run away?

Not to exit that faith which we have, that belief system that God has placed in us by living in us.

In Daniel 12, verse 7, it's a few pages over.

Continue on at this same time.

The man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river lifted up his right hand and his left hand toward heaven.

And I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, It will be for a time, that's a year, times, that's two years, and a half a time, three and a half years, the identical length of time of the Great Tribulation, the same length of time that the Beast and the False Prophet reign over many nations.

When going on, the power of the Holy People has been finally broken. All these things will be completed.

Question. Shakeups will come. They'll prophesy. What will be your approach to these things?

Matthew 26, continuing on. When Jesus made that statement, we see in verse 33 Peter's response.

Oh, I've got strength. I've got power. I was a fisherman. I could fix it when I was out in the boat and the storms came up.

We always survived. I'm a pro at this. We've been in dicey situations before. We'll get through it.

It's kind of like, you know, if I got lost, no problem. I know that moss grows on the north side of trees.

We can develop some kind of a confidence in ourselves. I'm not saying that's a bad thing in a sense, but when it comes down to getting through these times of spiritual trial, we can't do it on our own strength.

Here are some people who did. Verse 33. Peter answers him and says, Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Because Jesus had just said, all of you will be made to stumble.

Peter says, no, there's one that won't. There's one here that has been through a whole lot.

It's got a lot of strength and prowess and knowledge. Even if all the rest are made to stumble, I won't.

Christ responded and said, assuredly I say to you this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

And Peter says to him, well, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And it says, so said all the disciples, we're not bailing out on you. We're in this for the long haul.

We're the same way. It's a good intent. But Jesus taught us, I of myself can do nothing. How were they going to do it?

He taught us, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. He taught us, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

We need to learn that. David, who was a man after God's own heart, he was the king. He was the kid who could knock down the giant with the stone.

He had a certain amount of strength himself. He took the sheep out of the jaws of the lion, killed the bear, whatever it took.

What do you think drove David? We find in Psalm 21.1, he says, from where comes my help?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

There's a time to realize that David didn't just go take the lamb out of the lion's mouth.

He didn't slay a lion with his bare hand, and he didn't kill Goliath with a stone. God did all those things through him. David knew that.

You and I have a certain strength, but that strength only is God's, and of and by ourselves, we can't do it.

Three days before his death, Jesus said, watch therefore. Pay attention. Be alert to your spiritual state.

Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

That's in Luke 21.36. That's what he tells us.

In other words, God is going to be your only helper.

So you pray. You be alert. You be doing your annual inspection, your daily inspection, your hundred-hour inspection.

These are inspections that take place in aircraft.

And lives are on the line if they're not done. These are inspections that have to be done by us as we pray each day.

You know, forgive me of my sins. Well, what are those? We have to do a daily inspection.

So when Daniel's time, times, and half a time comes, you can't save yourself from it.

He just says right there, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy.

Not that you may be worthy to escape, but that God will count you worthy to escape these things.

In Revelation 12 and verse 14, we see how that escape is going to come to pass, and it won't be by our power. Now, I tell you what, I'm a daydreamer, and when I think about the church going to a place of safety, and that place of safety, I'm just ready.

I'll go over there right now, wherever it is, and I'll start digging trenches and putting in toilets and water systems and solar power and getting ready.

Because we tend to be people. We could solve that, couldn't we?

But how does it happen? Verse 14 of Revelation 12.

But the woman, prophetically referring to the church, was given.

She didn't make herself, she was given two wings of a great eagle.

That's not a jumbo jet. That's the same terminology that was used for when Israel came out of Egypt, on the wings of a great eagle.

She was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place.

So it's a type of being taken, you see, just as Israel didn't say, Oh, we've got to get to the Promised Land. How will we do that? Oh, I've got an idea.

And they set up a committee and they came up with their best, you know, scouts.

No, they were taken by a pillar of cloud, by day, and a pillar of fire by night, and all the miracles necessary.

And so she is taken to a place in the wilderness, to her place, where she is nourished.

Again, she doesn't even nourish herself. Didn't think to bring crops and seeds and fertilizer and tools and harvesting material.

But she's nourished for, just as in Daniel, a time, times and a half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent, the devil, spews water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman.

That he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. We don't know what that terminology means.

We'll will when it happens. Is it an army? Is it a real flood? Who knows?

But she was, I don't know if you've ever been in the face of a flood or a flash flood, but flash floods are things you can't get away from.

You know, you're crossing the river and all of a sudden you look up a flash flood. They're kind of quiet.

And then a friend is a tumbling mass of wood, logs, trash, branches that are just grinding over and over in some rocks.

And it just comes around the corner in an odd fashion and you look up and it's wide.

You just can't get away from that. And if you get into it, you can't get out of it.

So it's not like the woman has the power that he might cause her to be carried away, but the earth helped the woman.

Something takes place here that she is protected.

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth.

Almost like the armies of Egypt came after the Israelites and the earth opened up its mouth and they went in and it swallowed them.

It's like the world is white. We don't know how that will play out.

But in all of these things, where Satan is involved, where he is out to break the power of the holy people, when he is out, like Jesus Christ said, it's going to be shattered.

Who knows what the structure will even be of the church, if there will even be a structure.

It doesn't look like it through those three and a half year period. I'm not talking about in the place of safety. I'm talking about elsewhere. It doesn't look like there will be allowed to be a structure. When you look at the prophecies there, you have to have the strength of God.

Fifth lesson. Your human nature is concerned with the physical. Your human nature is concerned with the physical. How difficult is it for us to get our eyes off of the physical? That is where we live. That's who we are. Our known type is very clingy to the physical.

In Mark 14, 32, during the sequence of the Passover time, Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives and said, Sit here while I pray. Be alert. The term was watch. Sit here while I pray and be alert. But what does the human body do at night? You've had a long day.

Spiritual things are important, but what do we tend to want to do?

Verse 37, He came back and found them sleeping. It's so much more important that I get a good night's sleep. I'll be rested tomorrow. I'll be healthy. I feel a little sniffle coming on. It's important that my body is in good shape.

They slept. He said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not be alert for one hour? Could you not watch for one hour? You think he meant watch? Get some binoculars and watch. There might be soldiers coming. The soldiers were supposed to come, remember?

He was expecting them. He was anticipating them. It wasn't watch out for the soldiers. It was watch out for yourself, spiritually speaking.

He was expecting and ready to die for sin, but they were not prepared spiritually for what came upon them.

In Luke 21, verse 34, it says, Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. And that day come upon you unexpectedly.

Focus on the physical. Look at your life. How much of your life is around your physical? How much emphasis, trust, importance do you place on your environment, your possessions, your health, etc. etc. Is it getting the premium focus here?

If so, verse 35, it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Snare is like, bam! Oh, something's around my leg! That happens so fast! You know? Boom! There it is. You're taking a walk through the woods and bam! I've got a bear trap stuck on my leg.

You're walking along through the minefield. You don't know it's a minefield. And boom! You're up in the air! So, we need to realize our tendency to be concerned with the physical and pray for a different mentality. You know, he gave us in the daily model prayer outline, seek you first, the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness. And right there in the primary focus of the prayer is, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That's what we're to be focused on. And yet, in your annual inspection and even your daily inspection, because it's right there, ask yourself, is it about God's kingdom coming and His will being done in my life today? Or is it about my weeds in my yard? And what were we going to eat? And my job? And what's on TV? It was a wonderful thing that happened to my wife and I this last week.

We were watching a television show where the hostess of the show went into a compound, a religious compound that was just so weird. And all the women and the girls there wore prairie dresses, these long dresses.

And their hair was long and it was all braided. And the children, they interviewed the children, and the children don't play and they don't have toys. Oh, so bad. And they asked the children, have you ever heard of Tinker Bell? No. You ever heard of Shrek? No. See, these children, they're just so deprived. That's terrible. And the girls, have you ever slept around and stuff? They're like, no. Oh, I can't believe it. And you wear these dresses?

Yeah. What are you going swimming in? These dresses? Oh. Oh. And the girls were happy and the children were happy and the adults were happy and the women were happy. And they asked the kids, what do you do for enjoyment? And they said, work. We get a real kick out of it. We all like to go out and work. It's a lot of fun. And so they kind of laughed and left. It's like, whew! Okay. But it's interesting how far we've come and we don't even know it. How trivial our lives are and filled with just nonsense and sin and pleasure.

And it's where we live and we look at something like that that is wholesome and has values. And the people are genuinely enjoying life and snicker at it. It's not about all this trivia and trash and junk. And if we're not careful, he says, be careful because the day is coming as a snare.

It's going to come fast. That day of the Lord is going to come fast. So what is your life's purpose? And the sixth lesson is, your nature is tempted to follow Satan's will and his logic and his wisdom. It just is. It's a known type deficiency. You can see it right here in the manual. When you go to do the exam, you'll find, oh, we tend to think like he does. A short time later, the guards came to take Jesus as a prisoner.

And Peter took out a sword and whacked off the ear of one of the guys. Just... that's logical. That's obvious. That's the way it should be. He didn't ask Christ if he was supposed to. He just did it. He didn't understand. He didn't seek God's will or God's understanding. You never see the disciples asking when Christ would say these things, what was going to happen.

They never say, well, now teach us more about that. Help us to see that. Our human will, our human reasoning, and our human logic is actually that of Satan's. And it's a different God, and we're tapping into a different source. We need to understand that. Jesus himself prayed three times before he acted. And he said in Mark 14, verse 38, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Christ was tempted in all ways as we are.

In verse 36 of Mark 14, we find that we're given an example of him being tempted by human logic, by Satan's logic, by Satan's will. There's nothing wrong with being tempted to consider something that is indeed from Satan. Verse 33 of Mark 14, then they came to a place which is named Gethsemane, and he said, Sit here while I pray. In verse 34, he said, My life is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Wow! That is really, really thinking about, this is what I don't want to do.

Even sorrowful to death? Here is my will. Here is my logic. And I feel like dying over this. He went a little further, verse 35, fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. This is my new concept here. I see now a different thought process, another opportunity.

In verse 36, he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. That's my thinking here. That's my logic. Who wanted him to think that way? In verse 39, he went away and prayed and spoke the same words. You know, that is a temptation. But in verse 41, he comes, he submits to the Father's logic, the Father's will, the Father's reasoning.

He has come to this point. He has now worked through, he has considered the temptation. And here is what he said. The hour has come and behold the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going, see my betrayer is at hand. We are not going to follow Satan's logic, Satan's will, Satan's temptation. We are not going to follow that. He is now determined. See my betrayer is at hand. This is what we are going to do. Jesus taught us to pray, Father, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us, You give us this day our daily bread. That which we need to know comes from You, Your logic. Don't allow us to be led into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That is looking to God for His direction, His will, and putting aside the will and logic of Satan. He wants us to buy from Him the gold. Get it from Him. Don't get the gold from some fake gold from some other source. In Mark 14, in verse 50, we see these strong disciples now. They fled. They all forsook Him and fled. Verse 51, Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body.

This is believed to be the writer of this book, Mark. And he left. The young men laid hold of Him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. That's what you end up with. We don't have the strength, and we need to have the logic and the wisdom from God. And that's where their logic took them. You follow your own logic, you end up running away naked. It's not real logical in the end. James says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. We need to get God's wisdom. So today we've seen six known tendencies. These are things that we need to use to check on our human nature before the Passover and throughout our lives.

Seek God's help with your annual inspection. Realize this isn't something you can do to yourself. This is like walking up to a 747 and trying to guess what might be wrong with it. You are a very, very complex creature, much more complex than any jet airplane.

And so we need God to help us perform this annual inspection. Once you've done that, then keep the Passover and the unleavened bread with the zeal of ridding yourself of the old man once again and bringing in the mind of Christ.