Feb. 11, 2025

Temptation of Jesus: How to Interpret?

Temptation of Jesus: How to Interpret?

A discussion about the temptation of Jesus

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A discussion about the temptation of Jesus

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central.

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Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, February the eleventh, twenty

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twenty five. It is currently two fifty seven pm Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live from the Theology

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Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, while

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some of you were at chapel this morning, well, I

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was well, I was doing other things. I was listening

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to something else, and then I started working on well,

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how do we truly understand this? How do we interpret this?

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I did finally show up to at least Bob Jones chapel,

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but it was you were singing the last song and

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then everyone walked away. I did not get there in time,

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but I mean I did after most of the chapel

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services were done broadcasting on the Sermon's two point zero app.

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I did well do forty five minutes of teaching on

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what I'd been working on all morning, and I hope

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it was beneficial. Well, I do keep joking around about

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the all the chapel services on the sermons two point

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oh app. Again, if you've never downloaded the Sermon's two

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point oh app. Please go to the Apple App Store

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the Google play Store download the Sermons two point oh app.

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Download it and you'll see what we're referring to. You'll

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see the section that says webcast. You'll see all the broadcasting.

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You'll see all the people broadcasting right now, including me,

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and you'll see all the different broadcasters. And if you

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pay attention throughout the day, usually in the mornings, you'll

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see chapel services from Ambassador Bible College. I think sometimes

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you see Pensacola on there. You see Bob Jones. I

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can't remember some of the others. There's another one I

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forgot today. And I like keeping up with the chapel services.

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Sometimes they're interesting, sometimes they're not. But that's one of

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the things I keep up with. So we've been joking

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around because yesterday is as soon as the Bob Jones

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chapel service was over, I went live to talk literally

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about what I just heard. So I was going to

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kind of do the same thing today, but well, I

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got distracted by something else. I got distracted by a

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devotional message, a devotional message from I think a Presbyterian church.

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And they basically asked two questions this morning, why was

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Jesus tempted and how did he overcome it? Why was

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Jesus tempted? How did he overcome it? Earlier today in

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my teaching, for about forty five minutes, we worked on

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that question, why was Jesus tempted? We took what they said,

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expanded upon it, and I think we had a good

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philological discussion, a good understanding of why Jesus was tempted.

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I told you that I was very hesitant. In fact,

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I did not even allow to play. They're discussing of

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how their discussion of how Jesus overcame the temptation, and

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the reason I didn't want to get into that is

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I believe the minute we start discussing how Jesus overcame

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the temptation, how he over how he was able to

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not sin, I have my feeling is is that church

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after church after church that discusses the temptation of Jesus,

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they immediately go to how Jesus overcome, how Jesus overcame,

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and it disintegrates into basically turning it into a formula

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for how you and I are supposedly to overcome temptation,

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overcome sin. And I think the minute that happens, it

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destroys the entire text from being interpreted correctly. And we

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are going to discuss this, hopefully in great detail. I

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thought this was just going to be a second message

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on this. This may turn into three or four, but

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I think it's worth our time. So I may break

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this into just a smaller section than trying to cover everything.

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But here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go back

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to the message that we were reviewing earlier. I fast

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forward past the introduction, past the opening prayer, and they're

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going to just jump right in Matthew chapter four. Matthew

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chapter four. He will repeat his points on why Jesus

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was tempted? Right, Why was Jesus tempted? And I'm not

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going to go back and review everything we talked about

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in the last broadcast. You can go listen. It's already

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been uploaded, it's available everywhere. But we will just at

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least allow that to kind of set this stage. And

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then I'm going to ask a question that was not

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asked here. They asked in Matthew four. Their question was

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why was Jesus tempted? How did Jesus overcome the temptation?

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But there's another question that I think is more important,

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and that has to be asked before we can even

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ask why was Jesus tempted or how did Jesus overcome

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There's another question that must be asked the second you

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begin to read Matthew chapter four, and that's the question

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we're going to work on, and I'll explain that right

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after we listen to just a little bit of this.

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Here we go.

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Matthew four. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into

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the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after

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fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry, and

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the tempter came and said to him, if you are

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the son of God, command these stones to become loaves

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of bread. But he answered, it is written. Man shall

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not live by bread alone, but by every word that

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comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took

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him to the Holy City and set him on the

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pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you

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are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it

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is written he will command his angels concerning you, and

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on their hands they will bear you up lest you

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strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him again,

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it is written, you shall not put the Lord your

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God to the test. Again, the devil took him to

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a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms

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of the world and their glory. And he said to him,

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all these I will give you if you will fall

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down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan,

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for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God,

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and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him,

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and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. So

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why was Jesus tempted and how did he overcome? Those

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are our questions for today. Well, immediately after Jesus was

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baptized by John and was consecrated and anointed by the

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Holy Spirit as our Messiah, he's led by the Spirit

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into the desert wilderness, where he fasted for forty days

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and was tempted by the devil. That is a rough

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start to ministry. There's so much we could discuss about

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jesus temptation, but right now let's focus on two questions.

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Why was he tempted and how did he overcome? Jesus

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was tempted in our place as our savior for three

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main reasons. First, so he could fulfill all righteousness for

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us and earn a perfect human righteousness for us. Second

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of all, so he could suffer while tempted and become

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a merciful and sympathetic high priest for us. And third,

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it was to be the new atom, the head of

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a new humanity that would be redeemed in him.

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There you go him, He goes through those lightning speed,

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lightning speed. If you did not get those, why was

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Jesus tempted to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of us?

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He was tempted. He did not sin in order to

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keep the law and earn an active righteousness, an active

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obedience that is imputed to us by faith alone. So

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in Christ, Christ obedience to the law, Christ not sinning.

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All of that is accredited to my account. I stand

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before God perfect holy and obedience, even though in practice

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I sin, I do not keep the law, I do

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not obey the law, and I'm in a perpetual state

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of sin, just like you are. But I am declared

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righteous because of what Christ did and the temptation. He

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fulfilled all righteousness for us. Second, to become a merciful

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and sympathetic high priest. We don't have a high priest

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who doesn't know what it's like to be tempted, who

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is tempted in all points as we are yet without sin.

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So now, why do we need a high priest. He's

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our high priest, he's our advocate, he's our intercessor when

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you sin, because you're going to sin. See if we

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could just stop sinning. If somehow Matthew Forod gives us

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the secret to stop sinning, then we don't need a

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high priest. We don't need an intercessor, we don't need

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an advocate. We just follow the template and we can

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stop sinning. No, we still sin, But you know what

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the good thing is, what we should learn is we

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have someone who's at least somewhat sympathetic and un understanding

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because they've been tempted as we have. So we can

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then go to them, not run from them. All right,

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And then number three to succeed, we're Adam fell. Adam failed.

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Adam did not obey, Israel did not obey no one,

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no one in humanity is ever obeyed. Christ obeyed. He

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succeeded where Adam fell, so he could, in a sense,

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be the second Adam and ahead of redeemed humanity. We

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talked about all three of those points in the last episode.

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All right, please go back and listen. Now, now, so

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why was Jesus tempted? There's your answer. Now he's immediately

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going to go into how did Jesus overcome this temptation?

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Now I almost want to insert my question here, but

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I'm just gonna let you hear where he goes, because

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where this is going to be a discussion for the

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next day or two. I don't know. We'll see how

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long it takes, but I'll let you hear it. But

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I immediately when he starts talking, yea, I see a problem,

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and you'll you can tell me if you see them.

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Maybe you don't see the problem, but I see the problem.

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And it may not even be so much in what

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he says. It's what everyone does with well what he says,

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sorry or what this? Because he gives an answer that

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everyone it would typically give. Let's let's just hear it.

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Listen carefully. It goes by fast.

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Jesus had to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law

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to the fullest extent, which required him to face trials

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just like we do. He was tempted in every way,

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just as we are, and yet without sin. Hebrews four

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fifteen says in doing so, he earned a perfect righteousness.

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He entered into our trials and are suffering. He passed

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a more severe test than Adam failed, thus fixing Adam's

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fall by reversing the curse of the Garden of Eden.

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And how did he do it? As our messiah who

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was fully man, Jesus overcame Satan's temptation by rely life

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on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

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Jesus, how did he do it? Now? Please know, you've

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got to catch I know you, like, if you're just

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listening to that for your morning devotional, you didn't even

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catch it. He immediately emphasized jesus humanity. He didn't even

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mention Jesus deity. He did not even mention Jesus not

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having a sinful nature. He's like in his humanity. How

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did he do it by relying on the Holy Spirit

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and the scriptures? Relying on the Holy Spirit and the scriptures. Now,

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let's see what he says after that. I mean, he

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said it so quickly most of you probably didn't even

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catch it. But he stressed Jesus being a man. He

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didn't mention anything about jesus deity at all, and then

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he just stresses the humanity of Jesus and that he

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overcame by relying on the Holy Spirit and the scriptures.

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Let's see what he says here.

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This was empowered by the Holy Spirit and he quoted

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scripture to the devil, using the sword of the spear

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to fight the enemy. Now think about this. If Jesus

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needed the power of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures,

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how foolish would we be to try to face Satan's

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temptations in our own wisdom, to think that we could

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outsmart him or outreason him. We must depend upon the

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Holy Spirit and we must use the word of God,

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just as Jesus did. Well, now let's move our attention

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to Psalm seven.

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Now there's no explanation there, but you see the implication.

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Jesus did it in his humanity. He had to be

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empowered by the Holy Spirit, rely on the Holy Spirit,

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and use scripture, and he overcame temptation. He overcame the devil.

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While guess what the implication is. We can overcome sin,

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we can overcome temptation, we can overcome the devil if

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we will simply rely on the Holy Spirit and quote

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scripture and so what almost inevitably felts. Now this one

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did not expand on it, but it at least once again.

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And you can go listen to sermon after sermon on

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Matthew four. I mean, you've got the sermon's two points.

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Oh app go to town. See how many pastors handle it.

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Basically taking Matthew four and turning it into a formula

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for how you can overcome sin, how you can overcome

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the devil, how you can basically be obedient to God.

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But all you have to do is rely on the

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Holy Spirit and use the Word of God, and you

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can do it. You basically can be well. I mean,

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I don't know if we can do it as good

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as Jesus did. We should be able to be I

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don't know, sinless. Now, there's all kinds of problems with this.

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First again, it just completely ignored the fact that, hmm,

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I wonder if there's a difference between Jesus and us. Oh, yeah,

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he's the eternal son of God. Wait, I wonder if

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there's another difference. He doesn't have a sinful nature. So

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making this parallel or or trying to give some principle

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or formula. I think it's problem so I think it's problematic.

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So here is really my question. Are you ready? So

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their question was why was Jesus tempted? I love their

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answers to that. We expounded on it. How did Jesus overcome?

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They just focused on, well, he relied on the Holy Spirit,

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any quoted scripture, and basically we do the same thing,

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and I guess we get somewhat similar results. All kinds

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of problems with that. But the way they answered that

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second question, there's an implication, and the implication is that

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Matthew four should be interpreted as a prescriptive passage versus

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a descriptive passage. I will argue, and I am going

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to put forth my hypotheses that Matthew four should not

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be interpreted as prescriptive. It should be interpreted as descriptive.

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And if you go the prescriptive route, I think you

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end up creating number of problems. In fact, what you

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almost walk into is a crystological heresy. Is almost what

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you walk into, it is descriptive. So we're gonna talk

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about this, and we're gonna go with my concept, my idea.

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All right, I believe interpreting the Temptation of Jesus and

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Matthew four from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive perspective

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is more hermeneutically sound. So what I did is I

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went to AI and I'm like, okay, most everyone interprets

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it from a prescriptive way. AI agreed that that's how

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most sermons almost universally interprets Matthew four in a prescriptive way.

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I said, I think it's wrong. AI agreed that it

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makes more sense hermeneutically to interpret it from a descriptive

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not a prescriptive. And I was like, okay, good, We're good.

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So AI gave me descriptive versus prescriptive interpretation. They basically said,

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let's let's let's put them in the ring together and

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see who wins. Right, it's pay per view this Sunday,

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descriptive versus prescriptive. Who will come out victorious? Well, I

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think descriptive should win when it comes to Matthew Chapter four.

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So descriptive. What do we mean by descriptive? When I

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use the term descriptive, I mean a passage is describing

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what happened in a historical and philological sense without commanding

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or prescribing the same experience for you or me, or

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anyone else other than maybe the original recipients. It's about what.

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It's describing what happened. It's not prescribing what should happen.

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Let me state that again. A passage that we classify

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as being descriptive it is it is about it is describing.

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Let me say it this way. Well, we say a

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passage is descriptive. It is describing what happened in a

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historical and philological sense, without commanding or describing the same

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experience for believers. Example, the Temptation of Jesus is a

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unique event and redemptive history history that describes Jesus' role

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as the second Atom and the Messiah. It's not prescribing,

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it's describing what you should your what your church should

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do is just take a year and just every time

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you show up, whether it's Sunday school, whether it's Sunday morning,

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whether it's Sunday night, whether it's Wednesday. You start in

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the Genesis. You go work your way all the way

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to Revelation as a congregation, and you try to argue

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and fight with each other to determine which passages are

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descriptive and which passes passages are prescriptive. Now, by the

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end of that year, you're gonna probably have a church split,

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and you're probably gonna have lost eighty percent of your

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congregation because you're like, I don't come to church to

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do this. I need some okay. And so then they're

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just gonna complain in art I just need a sermon.

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It's too academic, and they're going to make all their arguments. Okay,

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so you should do it, but you'll lose everyone, okay,

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because there is major problems here and how this works

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over and over and over. Now, so that's a descriptive.

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So when we say descriptive, we're talking about a passage

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that is describing what happened in a historical and philological sense.

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It is not commanding or prescribing the same experience for us. Now,

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when we talk about a passage that's prescriptive, it provides

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a pattern, it provides a command, It provides a method

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that believers are to follow. Some may argue Matthew for

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prescribes a model for overcoming temptation, quoting scripture relying on

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the spirit resisting Satan, which every believer must imitate. The

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issue is that many, many teachings wrongly assume that Jesus

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temptation is meant as a prescriptive, leading to poor theology

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and unrealistic expectations. I think the only problem is you

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take Matthew for and you make it prescriptive, You're going

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to lead to all kinds of theological issues. It's just

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it just doesn't work. That's where you've got to think about.

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If this is whether you go with descriptive or whether

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you go with prescriptive, You've got to say, well, where

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does this lead us? Okay, if we go with prescriptive,

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what is the ultimate end result of this? Let's take

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it to its logical conclusion. If the logical conclusion has

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you driving off a cliff and you crash at the

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bottom and your car burst into flames and everyone dies,

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it's probably not a good idea to make it prescriptive,

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all right, And that's metaphorical, that's not a literal driving

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off the edge of a cliff, But you get the idea.

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So that's the difference between descriptive and prescriptive. Let me

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say that again. Descriptive a passage is describing what happened

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in a historical and philological sense without commanding or describing

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the same experience for believers. Prescriptive a passage provides is

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providing a pattern, a command, or a method that believers

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are to follow. It is prescribing this is what you

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should do, this is what you must do. So then

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this leads to the question the temptation of Jesus in

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Matthew chapter four, is it descriptive or is it prescriptive?

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My argument is that the temptation of Jesus is a

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descriptive event. Philologically, Matthew four, I think we should be

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able to say this is describing a unique event. It

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is describing a unique event and salvation history, rather than

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providing a universal method for resisting sin. It is prescribed.

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It is describing a significant event in Salvafic history. It

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is not prescribing a method for you and I to

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overcome sin. Because there's just a categorical difference. We are

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looking at what the eternal son of God, who did

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not have a sinful nature, what he did, and then

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trying to say that prescribes what me, a human not divine,

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a sinner by nature, what I'm supposed to do. It's

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just it makes no sense. Now, some may ask well then,

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why is it descriptive? Why are you saying Matthew four

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is descriptive. Well, I'm glad you asked that question. Let's

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see if we can try to come up with some reasons.

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All right. I believe number one jesus temptation was part

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of his Messianic mission. It was not a general Christian experience.

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It is showing something a part of his Messianic mission,

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something that he was supposed to do. I don't think

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it's describing a general Christian experience. Jesus was led by

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the Spirit into this confrontation as a part of his mission.

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This was a unique event where Jesus, as the second Atom,

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faced and defeated Satan, where Adam fell. I mean, it's

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got very specific things. The Spirit literally leads him into

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temptation directly to be tempted, he fasts for forty days.

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Everything about it is not us. It's unique, and the

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person Jesus who's going there is the eternal Son of

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God without a sinful nature. It's completely different. He's doing

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this as a unique event where the second atom is facing,

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facing and defeating Satan. For example, you can look at

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Romans five. We talked about this in the Last Message

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Romans five eighteen through nineteen. For as by one man's disobedience,

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the many were sinners, so by the one man's obedience,

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the many will be made righteous. He's literally demonstrating to us, see,

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Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness. Matthew five seventeen. I effectively

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read it, Matthew five seventeen. Think not that I've come

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to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not

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come to destroy, but to fulfill. He came to fulfill

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all righteousness, which he did in Matthew Chapter four. Matthew

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four is the historical evidence that Jesus obeyed, fulfilled all righteousness,

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and by demonstrating to us that we can believe in

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him because that obedience is imputed to us. His victory

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was representative on behalf of humanity, not merely exemplary as

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a method for others to copy see his victory. It's

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representative in him. I have that victory. He's not given

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me the example and how to obtain that victory. He

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is demonstrating he is being my representative in it. He's

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not serving as an example. He's being my representative, my representative.

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He's he's representing me in that moment. In that moment,

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I'm in him. He obeys in him, I obey in him.

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His obedience is imputed to my account. He's not showing

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me how to become obedient. He's showing me that he

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was obedient, and by putting my faith in him, I'm

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obedient in him. Okay, So I think that's I think

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that's very important. It was all a part of his

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messionic plan, and that he served here as a representative,

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a representative, not as an example. I think another thing

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here Jesus that we have to see why this is

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descriptive and not prescriptive. Jesus nature is not like ours.

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Jesus was sin less. We are sin full. This means

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his temptation was qualitatively different from ours. It's completely different.

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You can't take from Jesus some example. He doesn't have

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a sinful nature. It's qualitatively different. Jesus was fully God

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and fully man, making his resistance to sin perfect and unbreakable.

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He could not sin. He's God. Now, I know many

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will argue against that, But when you start arguing against that,

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you're understanding of christology, you're understanding of Christ. You almost

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start sliding over into heresy, you start separating as humanity. Indeed,

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we have to believe in the hypostatic union. Here, you

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have to understand the high pistatic union. If you don't

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know that, you need to look up what the hypostatic

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union is, and you need to study it. You need

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to become very because when people get into this discussion,

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it's almost like even in this little devotional, I know

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that he didn't mean it that way, but he just said,

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Jesus is a man. Jesus in his humanity, whoa whoa, whoa,

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whoa whoa, Jesus is still God. Okay, he didn't give

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up his deity. I think we have to constantly remind ourselves.

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We have to understand that believers have a sinful nature

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even after our salvation. So we cannot experience temptation the

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same way he did. It can't be prescriptive because I'm

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not experiencing temptation the way he did. He was experiencing

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temptation with no sinful nature. I experience temptation with a

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sinful nature that's already sinful and are and my default

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is sin. So why is it descriptive? Well, because jesus

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temptation was part of his messianic mission, because his victory

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he served as a representative here, not as an example,

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because his nature is not like ours. I think. Another

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thing to consider is the parallel between Jesus and Israel

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shows redemptive history, not a personal battle plan. Jesus was

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in the wilderness for forty days, okay, parallels Israel's forty

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years in the wilderness. Deuteronomy is repeatedly quoted because Israel

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failled well where Jesus succeeded. Matthew four to four. Man

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shall not live by bread alone, quoting Deuteronomy eight three.

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This shows Jesus as the true and faithful Israel, not

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merely as an example for personal temptation. Jesus was engaging

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in a cosmic conflict, not a private spiritual struggle Genesis

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three point fifteen. If we accept that as the first

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prophecy of Messiah involves a battle between the seed of

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the woman and the serpent of the serpent, which is Satan.

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Revelation twelve nine, Satan is described as the deceiver of

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the whole world, and jesus victory over him is a

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part of God's cosmic plan. The temptation narrative is about

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jesus victory over Satan not about a believer's method for

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avoiding sin. It's not about us. It's about all of

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these theological implications Israel. It's in a sense, it's a

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reenactment of the garden. It's a reenactment of Israel and

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the wilderness. They both fail. Jesus overcomes the very temptation,

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and between Adam and Israel, we have a represented, a

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representation of all of us. We all fall, we all fail,

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but Christ doesn't. So what do we learn not how

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we overcome sin and practice, but how in Him we

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are overcomers of sin, because in Christ we are perfect,

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and His obedient is accredited to our account. If you

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turn this just into hey, here's the three steps in

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which you can overcome sin, you're destroying the entire thiological

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beauty of the passage. So those are some reasons why

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we should see it as descriptive. Now, what is wrong

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with a prescriptive approach? Well, the prescriptive approach to Matthew four,

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I'll just say problematic. I want to say it's you know,

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it's spiritual malpractice, but we'll just go with a problematic.

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You see, if we make Jesus temptation prescriptive, we create

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serious philological and pastoral problems. Now this is Ai AI.

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So I asked AI, what problems do we have if

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we approach Matthew four from a prescriptive approach? And AI

460
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:56.759
gave me one, two, three, four four with a lot

461
00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:01.920
of subpoints problems that arise from looking at Matthew fov

462
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:06.880
from a prescriptive approach. Number one, it will absolutely and

463
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:09.759
a lot of times I paraphrase, I just like you

464
00:30:09.799 --> 00:30:11.400
to know when I'm using Ai. But a lot of

465
00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:14.240
times it's Ai mixed with a lot of my words.

466
00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:16.359
So I don't want to be like I'm quoting AI

467
00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:18.680
directly or I'm not going because it's always mixed together

468
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.119
with my words and its words. But I will say

469
00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:27.480
it absolutely one hundred and twenty seven billion percent will

470
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:33.519
lead to an unrealistic expectation about overcoming sin. The way

471
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.440
it's preached is here are the steps, rely on the

472
00:30:36.440 --> 00:30:38.119
Holy Spirit? Well, how do I do that? And they'll

473
00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:39.880
give you some like two or three little things and

474
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:41.640
then quote scripture. What are you gonna do? You have

475
00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:43.960
to memorize it, you have to recite it, Okay, what

476
00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:46.359
you have to resist? And they'll pull in some other

477
00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:48.880
scriptures and you think, oh, I've got my three I

478
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.000
got my three points, I got my four points. Here's

479
00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:54.720
my battle plan. I'm gonna go overcome the sin, the flesh,

480
00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.599
the devil. I'm gonna overcome everything. I've got my battle plan.

481
00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:00.640
And then smack. You get smacked in the face. You

482
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:02.680
fall in your face, and you sin, and you're like,

483
00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:07.759
what is wrong with this battle plan? Because it's not prescriptive,

484
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:20.160
it's descriptive. It leads to an unrealistic expectation. Sermon after

485
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:26.200
sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon will preach that

486
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.680
if believers will just quote scripture and rely on the spirit,

487
00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:37.000
they can overcome sin, just like Jesus did. No, I can't.

488
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:46.400
I'm not God. Okay, I'm not sinless. I'm sinful. Even

489
00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:50.880
if I overcome a temptation using this method, I'm still

490
00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:55.319
a sinner. Okay. Do you understand that? Because I'm sinful

491
00:31:55.400 --> 00:31:58.480
and I'm guilty in Adam, and I have a sinful nature.

492
00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:04.119
Even if I resist temptation to an external sin, I

493
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.680
may walk away from the sin externally, but internally, I've

494
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.279
already guilty of what I just walked away from. I

495
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:12.240
may be faced with a temptation, go okay, I'm not

496
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:13.519
gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it, not gonna

497
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.720
do it, And I don't do anything. I walk away,

498
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:19.559
I turn something off, I drive somewhere else, I close

499
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:21.960
the door, lock it, I close my eyes, whatever the

500
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.240
case may be, and I'm like, yes, I overcame that sin.

501
00:32:25.559 --> 00:32:28.279
I'm as I did just what Jesus did. But if

502
00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:32.559
my mind and my desire, I may be guilty of it.

503
00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:37.240
One hundred and twenty times after I didn't do anything

504
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:41.440
because I think about it, I desire it, I imagine it,

505
00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:43.799
whatever the case may be. Oh, and don't act like

506
00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:47.680
you're also godly imperfect because you do the same thing.

507
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:57.720
See this idea that if we'll just rely on the

508
00:32:57.720 --> 00:33:00.759
Holy Spirit and quote scripture we can overcome sin and well,

509
00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:02.920
first John says if we say we have no sin,

510
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:06.799
we deceive ourselves. It also is it ignores Roman seven,

511
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:08.839
where Paul describes the ongoing battle with sin in a

512
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:14.119
believer's life. You get this unrealistic expectation. That's why I

513
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:18.079
know it's not prescriptive, because nobody meets this unrealistic expectation.

514
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:23.039
Number two, it misunderstands jesus entire role here, the entire point.

515
00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:27.720
He's the second Adam. The temptation was not about personal struggle.

516
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:29.920
It was a part of Jesus fulfilling what Adam and

517
00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:34.920
Israel failed to do. Jesus wasn't fighting for himself. He

518
00:33:35.079 --> 00:33:38.799
was winning righteousness for you. When you look at that,

519
00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:42.200
what you see is Jesus is doing it. Yes, yes, yes,

520
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.240
Jesus is fulfilling the law. Yes. Now what do I do.

521
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:48.680
I'll put my faith in him. His obedience is accredited

522
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:52.160
to my account. It's not about me overcoming sin in practice.

523
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:56.160
It's about me overcoming sin for good by seeing his

524
00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:59.119
perfect obedience, putting my faith in it, and it's imputed

525
00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:07.799
to my account. So it leads to an unrealistic expectation.

526
00:34:08.199 --> 00:34:11.400
It misunderstands Jesus rolls the second atom number three. It

527
00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:15.480
overlooks the fact that Jesus had no sinful nature. We

528
00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:20.440
face temptation from external and internal sources. Jesus only faced

529
00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:24.119
external temptation. Teaching that we can fight temptation exactly as

530
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:27.679
Jesus did, fails to account for our fallen nature. Hey,

531
00:34:27.760 --> 00:34:30.239
just do what Jesus did. Even if I do what

532
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:33.440
Jesus did. I still have a sinful nature. How do

533
00:34:33.559 --> 00:34:36.679
preachers not understand this unless they're just full blown Pelagian.

534
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:39.239
If they're Pelagians, then okay. If you hold to a

535
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:42.440
Pelagian view of humanity, then okay, we are never going

536
00:34:42.440 --> 00:34:45.639
to agree. But your Pelagious view on Pelagian view of

537
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:51.079
humanity is absolutely just completely opposite of the reality you

538
00:34:51.280 --> 00:35:02.519
know is inside of you. Problem. If it typically overemphasizes

539
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:05.559
human effort over christ finished work. If the lesson of

540
00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:09.159
Matthew four is just do what Jesus did, then victory

541
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:12.199
over sin depends on our actions rather than christ obedience.

542
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.239
Colossians two thirteen through fifteen. Jesus didn't just resist sin.

543
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:21.320
He defeated it on the cross. He overcame it. He

544
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:28.360
defeated it. It's in him that we overcome. It's not that, oh,

545
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:32.320
we follow Jesus the example. Now I overcome. If I

546
00:35:32.360 --> 00:35:35.079
could overcome it, then I don't need a high priest,

547
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:37.480
and I don't need a sacrifice. I could just do it,

548
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:41.679
but I need the blood. I need someone interceding. I

549
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:51.639
need an advocate because I still sin. We can't. We

550
00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:58.840
have to see this from a descriptive perspective. So can

551
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:03.960
we learn what can we learn from Matthew four without

552
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:08.199
making it prescriptive. Well, we see jesus victory over sins,

553
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:13.280
our victory. He conquered Satan, fulfilling God's promise. His obedience

554
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:17.480
is credited to us through faith. Jesus victory is our victory.

555
00:36:17.639 --> 00:36:21.000
It's not Jesus showing us how to be victorious. The

556
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:24.199
text is showing us Jesus being victorious. And it's in

557
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:27.880
him that I'm victorious. I'm not in victorious and following

558
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:31.960
his example and not sinning. I'm victorious in him. Even

559
00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:38.360
if I sin, you're missing the entire point. But if

560
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:48.800
it's descriptive, then you understand it. Now we may look

561
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:51.599
at the text and go, well, Jesus used the he

562
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:55.320
quoted scripture, and he relied on the spirit. But by

563
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:57.920
no means is this telling us how to illuminate sin

564
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:01.199
or how to be sinless, because we are going to

565
00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:08.840
continue to sin. So even if you see ooh and

566
00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:12.719
mentioned scripture and mentions the spirit, I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,

567
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:15.679
you know what that means. Even with scripture, even with

568
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:21.320
the spirit, you still sin. And to think otherwise you're

569
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:27.079
out of your ever living mind. You're living and you're delusional.

570
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:34.960
I think a third thing we get from this is

571
00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:38.840
Jesus is our representative in our high priest Hebrews two eighteen,

572
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:43.519
because he himself, because he himself has suffered when tempted,

573
00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:45.480
he is able to help those who are being tempted.

574
00:37:45.480 --> 00:37:49.519
As Hebrews two eighteen, Hebrews. Four fifteen through sixteen, we

575
00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:51.480
have a high priest who has been tempted as we are.

576
00:37:51.559 --> 00:37:53.880
Yet without sain, let us, then, with confidence, draw near

577
00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:56.679
to the throne of grace. Jesus experience means he can

578
00:37:56.719 --> 00:38:00.159
sympathize with us, but he is not just giving us

579
00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:05.239
a battle plan. Jesus was my representative. Jesus is my

580
00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:10.559
high priest. I think another thing is this shows us

581
00:38:10.679 --> 00:38:13.920
victory over sin comes through union with Christ, not imitation

582
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:16.760
of Christ. I want you to write that down. Your

583
00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:21.559
victory over sin does not come through you imitating Christ.

584
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:26.800
It comes through your union with Christ. We always talk

585
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:29.559
about imitating Christ. No, I just need to make sure

586
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:34.159
I'm unified with Christ. Victory comes through union, not imitation.

587
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:43.760
Victory comes through union, not imitation. We are free from sin,

588
00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:46.559
not because we follow a method. But because we are

589
00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:54.519
united to Christ's death and resurrection, a descriptive interpretation is

590
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:59.320
the correct hermeneutical approach to Matthew. FORO, viewing it prescriptively

591
00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:10.639
creates bad theology, false expectations, and spiritual discouragement. Now I

592
00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:15.119
want to get more into I have here, I've got

593
00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:18.599
pages here. Hang on, let me see if I have

594
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:23.119
them all here. Yeah. I got a number of problems

595
00:39:23.159 --> 00:39:26.719
with the way this is typically approached. I got major problems.

596
00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:28.599
And I really and I want to get into this,

597
00:39:28.760 --> 00:39:31.000
and I'll do it this next time because they're already

598
00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:32.519
at forty minutes. If I try to do this, this

599
00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:34.440
will go an hour and a half. I could rush

600
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:36.960
through it, but I don't want to. I want to

601
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:41.039
get into this whole idea. So wait a minute, when

602
00:39:41.079 --> 00:39:44.360
we talk about Jesus being tempted, do we so separate

603
00:39:45.320 --> 00:39:48.639
his humanity, Like, hey, Jesus was just being tempted as

604
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:54.519
a man, and he overcame it as a man. Right.

605
00:39:55.159 --> 00:39:57.880
I think this is a problem, right, I think I

606
00:39:57.880 --> 00:39:59.360
think this becomes a problem.

607
00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:04.119
I see if I can pull up the see here,

608
00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:12.800
if I can pull this up you see here?

609
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:20.599
Yeah, we could we could get into kenosis here, which

610
00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:23.760
is a major problem. So we could get into So

611
00:40:23.880 --> 00:40:25.440
let me ask you this, let me ask you this.

612
00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:27.280
I'll state it this way I was gonna I was

613
00:40:27.320 --> 00:40:31.039
gonna do. See, I'm trying to stop myself here. When

614
00:40:31.079 --> 00:40:33.760
we look at the temptation of Jesus, if you just say, well,

615
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:36.119
Jesus was simply tempted as a man and overcame it

616
00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:38.199
as a man, and the way he overcome it, I

617
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:40.199
can overcome sin the same way he did. Well. First

618
00:40:40.199 --> 00:40:42.360
of all, is already problematic because even if you just

619
00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:45.679
say Jesus overcame it as a man, well, the only

620
00:40:45.719 --> 00:40:48.920
problem is he's a sinless man with no sinful nature.

621
00:40:49.039 --> 00:40:51.280
So I still it's not does not correlate to me

622
00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:54.079
even if I go with that. But if you so

623
00:40:54.320 --> 00:40:57.320
look at him just as doing this in his humanity,

624
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:02.039
are you not going with this kind of nosis? Heresy?

625
00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:06.039
This this idea of a you know, if we go

626
00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:12.320
to canosis, Uh, it's this idea. See, this is this

627
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:16.639
is the well we could be called canotic theology, which

628
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:19.239
it attempts to understand the incarnation of the second person

629
00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:22.000
of the Trinity and light of the Canosis of Philippians.

630
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.679
Two seven. It aims to solve some of the paradoxes

631
00:41:25.719 --> 00:41:28.880
arising from Jesus having a divine nature and a human nature,

632
00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:32.199
so it tries to Then what happens is it begins

633
00:41:32.239 --> 00:41:37.119
to separate the human from the divine, and then this

634
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:41.960
becomes majorly problematic. So it's like, well, see Jesus emptied

635
00:41:42.039 --> 00:41:45.800
himself and so he basically handled this completely as a

636
00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:48.039
man and a lot and this happens in a lot

637
00:41:48.039 --> 00:41:52.400
of pastors. Sometimes we'll talk about basically, Jesus did everything

638
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:54.639
as a man through the power of the Holy Spirit,

639
00:41:54.679 --> 00:41:56.400
and I can do everything Jesus can.

640
00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:57.000
Well.

641
00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:59.760
Again, even if you go with this concept to some

642
00:42:00.639 --> 00:42:03.599
you're already in a problem because the difference is Jesus

643
00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:06.440
is not a man like I am a man in

644
00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:09.920
this sense. He had no sinful nature. That's the whole

645
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:15.159
point of the incarnation, the virgin birth. I may be

646
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:17.639
a man like Jesus, we're not talking about our humanity.

647
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:21.199
The difference between my humanity and his humanity is I

648
00:42:21.239 --> 00:42:25.000
have a sinful nature. So when you get to this

649
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:28.760
subject of the temptation, if you so emphasize his humanity

650
00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:31.519
here and you forget his deity, forget that he had

651
00:42:31.559 --> 00:42:34.480
no sinful nature. You kind of start sliding or at

652
00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:39.119
least getting close to this canosis knomic theology, canomic heresy,

653
00:42:39.159 --> 00:42:49.880
canosus heresy, where you basically you're basically destroying the hypostatic union.

654
00:42:55.079 --> 00:42:58.599
So we'll get into that a little bit more. Yeah,

655
00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:04.960
I mean, yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot here

656
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:07.920
we could get into. I kind of just want to

657
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:09.920
jump into it. But again we're at forty three minutes.

658
00:43:10.039 --> 00:43:12.159
So here's the thing I want you to get when

659
00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:15.679
it comes to the temptation of Jesus. It is descriptive.

660
00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:18.960
It's not prescriptive. And if you try to go take

661
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:20.719
these principles give them to people and say you can

662
00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:23.760
overcome sin, you know what, They're not going to overcome sin.

663
00:43:24.199 --> 00:43:26.719
And oh, I know Christians get mad at me saying this.

664
00:43:27.079 --> 00:43:30.519
Let me state it for the nineteen thousandth time. You

665
00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:34.719
are in a perpetual state of sin. You were always

666
00:43:34.760 --> 00:43:38.760
in sin. So even when we describe as overcoming sin,

667
00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:43.880
not sinning, it's all so subjective because we are ignoring

668
00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:47.320
the reality. The Bible says, be holy as He is holy,

669
00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:49.559
You have never been as holy as He is holy.

670
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:53.360
You never will be not for one second, not for

671
00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:56.079
one second of from this point of your salvation all

672
00:43:56.079 --> 00:43:59.800
the way till glorification, you never will meet that. That's

673
00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:02.039
all law that shows you you can't. That's why you

674
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:04.920
need Christ. And Christ you're as holy as God is holy,

675
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.599
because the holiness of Christ is imputed to your account

676
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:11.159
and practice. You are a sinner. When Jesus says be perfect,

677
00:44:11.159 --> 00:44:13.599
says your heavenly Father is perfect, you cannot do that.

678
00:44:13.679 --> 00:44:15.679
You never will do that. When he says, love God

679
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:17.519
with all your heart, mind, body, and so you never can.

680
00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:20.000
You never will love, love your neighbor as yourself. You

681
00:44:20.039 --> 00:44:22.400
never will do all things without complaining and grumbling. You

682
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:23.920
never I can go on and on and on and

683
00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:25.960
on and on and on and on. You are in

684
00:44:26.119 --> 00:44:29.840
a perpetual state of sin because anything that falls short

685
00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:33.159
of perfection is sin, and that is all of us

686
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:37.480
twenty four to seven. So if you hand someone some

687
00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:40.840
supposed model to overcome sin, what are they gonna have

688
00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:42.920
to do. They're gonna have to reduce what sin really

689
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:46.000
is to just some external practices. They'll make a list

690
00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.000
of the really bad ones and say, well, I don't

691
00:44:48.039 --> 00:44:49.599
do this, and I don't do that, and I don't

692
00:44:49.639 --> 00:44:52.840
do this, see how Jesus changed me and completely ignore

693
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:56.760
the reality of their sin, which leads to legalism, self righteousness,

694
00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:00.599
and a condemning attitude, which is what happens. And we

695
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:04.360
get this phariseical form a Christianity while they all pretend

696
00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:06.880
we're good and they're all bad. We're good and they're

697
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:11.079
all bad. No, we're all bad, we're all law breakers,

698
00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:13.679
we're all sinners. We're on a perpetual state of sin.

699
00:45:14.119 --> 00:45:17.239
Our hope is not in a stopping sinning. Our hope

700
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:21.920
is in Christ, who overcame sin perfectly, overcame the devil perfectly,

701
00:45:21.960 --> 00:45:25.280
and in him, his victory is mine. It's about victory

702
00:45:25.599 --> 00:45:33.400
in my union with Him, not victory and following his example. Now,

703
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:36.280
I know that ruined every sermon you've ever heard on

704
00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:39.960
Matthew four. I know that probably makes you feel really

705
00:45:39.960 --> 00:45:43.719
bad that you've taught Matthew four wrong in church. But

706
00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:45.840
I believe it's wrong, and I believe what you've done

707
00:45:46.039 --> 00:45:48.440
is spiritual malpractice. And I'm not seeing that in a

708
00:45:48.519 --> 00:45:52.199
judgmental way, because guess what, ladies and gentlemen, I taught

709
00:45:52.239 --> 00:45:58.480
Matthew for wrong for most of my Christian life, and

710
00:45:58.519 --> 00:46:01.559
I believed it wrong. Think, Oh, if I can just

711
00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:04.440
follow this formula, if I can just follow this formula,

712
00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:08.159
and I know, and you know what, I finally figured out,

713
00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:16.199
I can't because I misunderstood the entire point of the passage. Now,

714
00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:19.039
next time we'll talk a little bit more about this.

715
00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:23.480
We'll talk about how he did it, and we'll see,

716
00:46:23.679 --> 00:46:27.960
well we can't and I think I've kind of already

717
00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:29.559
given it away. But we'll talk and maybe we'll go

718
00:46:29.599 --> 00:46:34.039
into a little bit more about canotic kenosis. I always

719
00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:37.079
want to, yeah, get into a whole history with it.

720
00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:40.000
But yeah, all right, we'll stop there. So for now,

721
00:46:40.079 --> 00:46:43.400
thank you. Have a good Tuesday evening. It is February

722
00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:45.440
the eleventh. I hope things are going well this week.

723
00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:49.119
I hope you have a good week. And yeah, and meantime,

724
00:46:49.880 --> 00:46:53.000
if you are looking at the sermons two point oh

725
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:56.639
app today, if you're looking at the sermon's two point

726
00:46:56.639 --> 00:47:01.199
oh app, there are four live webcams going on. We're

727
00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:04.000
one of them right now. I told you Waynesville, that

728
00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:08.079
Waynesville Church in North Carolina. They've been broadcasting like around

729
00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:10.840
the clock. They just not uploading anything. I don't know

730
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:12.760
why they're not uploading it. You may want to keep

731
00:47:12.840 --> 00:47:15.199
up with what they're doing. Tonight. They're having some like Jubilee,

732
00:47:15.239 --> 00:47:17.320
I think is what they're calling their meeting. I wish

733
00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:20.039
it would be uploading the messages. I may strongly disagree

734
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:23.239
with them, but I'd like to see them. Barron Center,

735
00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:27.239
Protestant Reform Church in Michigan. I think it's been broadcasting

736
00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:29.559
for like, I don't know, fifteen hours, but I don't

737
00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:32.039
think there's anyone there. Hay, let me see here. I'm

738
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:36.079
playing the video. Yeah, it's just a black screen. Yeah.

739
00:47:36.079 --> 00:47:38.519
I don't know what they're doing. They just have a

740
00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:41.920
And then we have a church in Northern Ireland. And

741
00:47:41.920 --> 00:47:44.199
then of course theology is central and we're about to

742
00:47:44.320 --> 00:47:47.199
end our broadcast. So go jump into one of those others.

743
00:47:47.360 --> 00:47:51.480
Or just go to Discovery New Sermons and look at

744
00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:53.199
all the new sermons that have been at it today

745
00:47:53.559 --> 00:47:59.480
and well or or or or or take the sermons

746
00:47:59.480 --> 00:48:01.960
two point oh app go to the search bar Matthew

747
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.760
four or Temptation of Jesus. Start listening discernments and see

748
00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:12.239
do they go with descriptive prescriptive. Go listen to the

749
00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:17.559
other perspectives. I just offered the alternative of the alternative

750
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:19.639
of the alternative, because I guarantee you I'm in the

751
00:48:19.679 --> 00:48:22.400
minority of the minority of the minority. The only person

752
00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:24.480
who agrees with me is not a person, it's a

753
00:48:24.639 --> 00:48:26.519
I know there's probably other people who agree with me,

754
00:48:26.599 --> 00:48:28.920
but all right, thanks for listening everyone, of a great night,

755
00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:29.480
godless