THE SERMON - The Temptations Of Christ ｜ Part 2 - Matthew 4_1-11
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Summary
In this second part of our series on the Three Temptations of Christ in the Wilderness, we pick up where we left off last week. In this episode, we will cover the first of the three temptations that Jesus encountered in the wilderness: Doubting the Father's Goodness, Denying God's Glory, and Demanding The Father's Power.
Transcript
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is Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11. If you were with us last Lord's Day, this is the text
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that we had for that Sunday as well. This is a part two dealing with the text that addresses
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the three temptations of Christ in the wilderness. Again, our text is Matthew chapter 4 verses 1
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through 11. I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say
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this is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond
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by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11
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the bible says this then jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
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devil and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him
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if you are the son of god command these stones to become loaves of bread but he answered it is
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written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God
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then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him
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if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels
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concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone
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Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
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Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
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And he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
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Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
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Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
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Last week, I spent the entirety of our time simply introducing this text
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and predominantly setting the stage, some of the framework, the context
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for understanding this battle royale, this cosmic war that takes place in the wilderness
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with no audience, at least no human audience, between Satan and the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
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So I provided the context, set the stage, but today we're going to delve in detail into each of these three temptations.
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So I'm skipping the introduction that's written in your notes.
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As a reference point, if you weren't here last week, you can go online and check out the sermon there.
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But today we're going to pick up with the first of the three temptations.
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And I've given this header for each of these three temptations.
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Particularly, that is, his practical goodness, his fatherly goodness, as it pertains to provision.
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Secondly, the second temptation as a header or title, I put this, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon the Father's power.
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Demanding is the word that I chose because then that allows all three of these headers to start with the letter D.
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And that is what preachers do, for better or worse.
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So, the first is doubting the Father's goodness,
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despair of the Father's provision and goodness.
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The second, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon His power.
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Rather than rendering to God the Father that which is due to Him and Him alone,
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taking that into your own hands denying the father his rightful glory let's begin doubting
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the father's goodness in your notes i've written the following christ did not need to fast for the
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purpose of mortifying indwelling sin so then that begs the question why did jesus fast that's an
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important point worth noting right here from the outset a christ goes into the wilderness and fast
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engage in this spiritual discipline of fasting.
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or are convicted and led by the Holy Spirit to fast
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But that is a chief reason. One of the reasons that we fast, that is to voluntarily deprive ourselves of food for a time, is so that Christ might be formed more acutely within us, that we might mortify the sin which still dwells within the members of our being.
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One of the chief texts speaking about residual indwelling sin that remains even for the Christian, even after conversion, even after being made to be a new creation in Christ Jesus as a work of the spirit by grace of faith alone.
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Even once this takes place, yes, you are a new creation.
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The old heart, which was non-responsive and even rebellious towards the things of God,
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the heart of stone has been removed and it has been replaced with a heart of flesh.
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That is a heart that is softened, it is malleable, and is receptive, responsive to the things of God.
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That all takes place at the moment of conversion.
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The Holy Spirit regenerates hearts sovereignly as the Father chooses.
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He comes and removes the heart of stone, replaces it with the heart of flesh.
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And once this happens, and this is an important theological principle that we need to understand.
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Once this takes place, you've been converted, you are now a Christian.
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And that's something that I think many Christians misunderstand.
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Because it is a little bit complicated, but it's not that complicated.
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So I'll do my best to concisely and clearly explain it now.
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The Christian does not have a sin nature, but the Christian does still have in this life,
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until glorification, which comes later, after this life,
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until glorification, the Christian who has experienced justification,
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is experiencing sanctification, but has not yet experienced glorification,
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that Christian no longer has a sin nature, but they do still have the flesh. And Romans 7 says,
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so I find this law at work, that when I want to do good, this I cannot do. And the evil that I do
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not want to do, this I keep on doing. Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will save me? The Apostle
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Paul goes on underneath the inspiration of the Spirit. Who will save me from this body of death?
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who will save my soul that is still currently damned?
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And that's the exact reason why I still find myself wrestling with sin.
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In my inner being, I delight in the law of God.
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And people will say, well, that's just a Jew thing to say.
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First century Judaism, a Jew, unconverted, not a Christian,
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but a Jew would still say, I delight in the Torah.
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He's just saying, in my inner being, I delight in the law of God.
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Because we know that what Paul is speaking of about himself,
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we don't know the exact timing of his self-description,
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And as a Christian, and not just any old Christian,
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and remains uncontested for the past 2,000 years.
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The Apostle Paul, who is writing this as a Christian,
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would not be describing himself pre-Christian, unconverted,
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as one who in his inner being delights in the law of God.
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If he was writing about himself as a Jew before conversion,
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he would have said in my inner being, I hate the law of God.
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I pretend to like it because that's what we do.
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As Jews in Israel, we pretend to like the law of God,
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and then we twist it and tweak it and pervert it
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in such a way that we're able, without a fair trial,
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As all Jews in first century Palestine did hate the law of God
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if they were not converted by grace and become disciples of Jesus.
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and for the record that's not just jews that's called all unbelievers all unbelievers hate the
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law of god that's very clear right romans chapter 8 tells us explicitly i don't like the way you're
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interpreting that pastor i'm not going to interpret this one i'll just quote it romans chapter 8 says
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that the mind of the sinful man that's the unconverted man aka the non-christian the mind
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of the sinful man, it does not submit to God's law nor can it. Meaning that the mind of the
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unbeliever is both unwilling and, catch this, unable to submit to the law of God. Why? Because
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he cannot nor will he submit to that which he hates. He hates God and he hates God's law. So
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Paul is not writing as a Jew pre-conversion. No, this is Paul writing and describing himself
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after conversion. This is a present day description of himself saying, even as a Christian,
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born again by grace, with a new heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a very real
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sense where now, because I have a new heart, because of the Spirit's work in conversion and
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regeneration. Because I am, not that I'm not, but because I am a new creature in Christ Jesus,
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in my inner being, I delight. I don't hate, but rather delight in the law of God. And yet,
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simultaneously with that being as true as it is, inner being, delight in the law of God, and yet
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sin still resides within the members of my being, so that I find this law at work. That when I want
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to do good, evil is there present with me, so that the good that I desire to do I cannot carry out.
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Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will save me? Again, here's the key. Who will save me from this
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soul that's unjustified? This soul of death? No. Who will save me from this body of death?
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What Paul is lamenting out loud under the inspiration of the Spirit is he is saying,
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I long not only for justification, which by God's grace I've already received, and not only further
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degrees of sanctification, which have come, and I trust that as long as I'm in this life that
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more degrees of the process of sanctification will follow. No, but what I'm lamenting and also
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longing for out loud on the pages of Holy Writ is glorification. Justification, the salvation of the
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soul. Sanctification, the lifelong process of the renewing of the mind. But glorification,
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the salvation of the body. We're our very physical bodies that even as Christians with new hearts and
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a new nature, sin even for the Christian still resides within the members of our flesh. But one
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day, praise be to Christ Jesus, even our very body will change. So that first John rings true when it
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says that when we see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Who is him? Christ
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Jesus. In what way will we be like him? Well, we'll have his deity. We'll be gods like him. No.
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It's not speaking of being like him in every regard, but in a particular regard. What way
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will we be like him? We shall be sinless as he is sinless. Not God as he is God. We will always be
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creatures. And we will always be finite creatures. Immortal, but still finite. We'll never be in
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heaven omniscient. We will be learning things. And that's good news for the record. That's what
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makes it so fun. We'll be learning and learning and learning and growing and growing and growing
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for eons and eons and eons without end for eternity. And the nice thing about God being
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infinite is, guess what? A finite creature, even glorified, with a glorified mind and a higher
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capacity for learning and understanding and comprehension and all these things, and sin now
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being removed because of a new body in which sin does not reside within the members of your being.
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So an unperverted mind and a greater thinking mind with higher capability, still finite belonging
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to a creature, that mind will never fully comprehend God because He is infinite. How long
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does it take to grasp infinity? To grasp that which is infinite requires, in terms of duration
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of time, eternity. And so for eternity, we will be surprised and amazed, experiencing ecstasy and
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pleasures forevermore. In his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And in his presence
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there is fullness of joy. And of this there shall be no end. But in the meantime, you and I as
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Christians, we no longer have, here's the doctrinal truth, we no longer have, if you are in Christ
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Jesus as a new creation with a new heart, you no longer have a sinful nature. But you still do have
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No, you and I are not led by God into temptation
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and then tempted merely or only by outward forces and demonic powers.
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But you and I, rather, we are led ourselves into temptation,
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That no one should say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.
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For God does not tempt anyone, neither can he himself be tempted.
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But each one is tempted and led astray or enticed
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when his desire, implication there being sinful, fleshly desires,
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which still exist, even for the Christian who has a new heart,
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when our sinful desires, because sin still resides within the members of our flesh,
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when those desires, uncombatted, unsubdued, un-mortified,
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coming back to the original point now, believe it or not, I still have it,
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when our desires un-mortified, which reside within our flesh with its sinful proclivities,
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and inclinations, when those desires are allowed to get the best of us, it is those inward fleshly
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desires that lead us into temptation, not the spirit. So, Jesus fasting. Jesus fasting. Here we
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are. Jesus did not go into the wilderness to fast in order to subdue his flesh. Jesus had flesh.
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He has flesh now, that flesh now glorified, but still flesh.
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He is forever the God-man, seated in the flesh, albeit glorified flesh,
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But Jesus' flesh was different than yours and mine,
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in the sense that it was human, as our flesh is,
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You and I, in our human nature, are both finite and fallen.
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nor did he have sinful desires residing within the members of his being.
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Jesus, not only in his deity, certainly in that regard,
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but also in his humanity, remained unfallen, uncorrupted.
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And so Jesus is not led by sinful desires to be tempted in the wilderness.
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And he is not tempted then in the wilderness by sinful desires,
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And for the purpose of mortifying the flesh, no, all that work needs not to be done.
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He has no sinful inclinations there to be mortified in the first place.
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But rather, if for no other reason, Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights merely to set an example for you and I.
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Now, I think it's more than this, and I'll mention one other reason briefly, but let's begin with this.
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One other example that we might find God doing something that he has no need of doing.
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And yet doing it nonetheless in order to set an example for you and I would be in the very creation narrative.
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That for six days God worked and on the seventh he rested.
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sets a pattern of weekly rest for his finite creatures who he knew would require rest.
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He who is holy, holy, holy, and has no indwelling sin,
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and therefore has no need to mortify the flesh through the spiritual discipline of fasting,
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who do have corruptions in our flesh so that we might follow.
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In creation, God sets the pattern of rest, though he needs no rest, for his finite creatures.
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And in the wilderness temptation, God sets again the example of fasting for his creatures who do need fasting because of our fallenness.
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A pattern of rest as an example for finite creatures.
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A pattern of fasting as an example for fallen creatures.
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And this is just one more way to demonstrate the mercy,
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the condescension, as we've spoken of earlier in previous weeks,
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not meaning that in a derogatory or demeaning sense,
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but simply condescending as a parent would with a toddler.
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But these passions of wanting to grab this spoon
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a little fatherly, motherly parenting lesson here.
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Even the best of parental restrictions, which we should employ, especially when it comes to technology.
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And yet there will still be certain moments when we're not there.
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And if not in the home, there will certainly be moments when we're not there when they leave the home.
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The best defense that we have is training our children while they're young to control and master their passions when we are there.
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So Jesus is setting for us an example of how to master our passions,
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how to mortify the flesh, and how to do it through discipline.
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There is no alternative in the Christian life or simply in life in general,
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And to pretend that we could somehow sever physical disciplines, such as fasting, from spiritual realities is a Gnostic inclination.
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The physical and the spiritual are far more intertwined than you and I would like to admit.
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you know how you could get someone to transition from voting democrat to voting republican
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well you know facts don't care about your feelings and so you sit down and you make a
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pros and cons list and you make arguments and you show them that democrats are the real racists and
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they're the ones who actually were in the you know the south and the planet no no that's not how you
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do i understand history matters and logic matters but you know another way that you can take a 21
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year old liberal male who votes democrat and wears t-shirts saying i'm a proud feminist you know how
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you can radically change his worldview cut out soy make him work out in a gym
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and boost his testosterone levels and all of a sudden by golly as though it's almost a supernatural
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magic spale he becomes more conservative in his worldview isn't that remarkable
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and this is documented i'm not i'm not this is not hyperbolic you change your physical habits
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and all of a sudden you will change the way you think about the world
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high testosterone men vote republican women who marry those high testosterone men
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vote republican so who votes for democrats women who are unmarried and men who aren't men
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spiritual disciplines are tied to physical bodily disciplines we are not just souls floating in the
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ether but god's design this isn't part of the curse the curse is that flesh would become fallen
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the curse is not flesh itself this is god's good and original design that we would not be
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but rather that we would be physical creatures.
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what will the final state of Christians be?
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and spirit once more together. You and I are not going to have merely spiritual existence
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in heaven for all eternity. We will have a physical and spiritual existence in heaven for
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eternity. This is why even when it comes to funerals, this is not a hard and fast legalistic
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rule. I understand that at times there are extenuating circumstances, and I have no desire
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to disparage anyone in the room who has used, for instance, I can't think of the word. I want to say
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incarceration, but that's jail. Cremation. Thank you. If you've used cremation for a loved one,
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I understand. Please do not feel disparaged. Here's the beauty. A lot of Christians have died
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at sea thousands of years ago and eaten by fishes and spread across seven oceans. And when Jesus
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comes, he will be able to take every molecule and glorify their flesh. So it's going to be okay.
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So hear that disclaimer. That said, symbolically, the reason why Christians historically have
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chosen burial as opposed to cremation and even in burial used embalming in certain practices to
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preserve the body as long as possible, while knowing in the logical sense, we know what's
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going to happen. If Jesus tarries another 10,000 years, that embalming is not going to hold up.
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Let's be honest. We know that. Well, why do we do it? Because what we're saying as Christians is
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that the body matters. And that when someone dies, we're not saying, you know, this is just a shell.
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You are, it's not just that you are a soul that possesses a body.
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You are not merely a soul that possesses a body.
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And if the physical matters, then when we engage in spiritual disciplines,
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They're not merely pietistic and only pietistic, but they also engage the flesh so that when we
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pursue Christ spiritually, there is also disciplines employed physically. And fasting
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is a wonderful example. And Jesus sets that example for us.
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so in this temptation the devil is trying to get jesus to doubt to doubt the fatherly goodness
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particularly the provision of his father let me finish reading this quickly so why did jesus fast
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one so that his victory over satan might be all the more profound it says though a boxer enters
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the ring with one hand tied behind his back and says, I got this. Jesus is led by the Spirit into
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the wilderness voluntarily fast to, if anything, make his human nature all the more vulnerable and
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weak, knowing that that's still plenty of strength to defeat his adversary. So one reason he fasts
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for 40 days and 40 nights is to make his victory over Satan all the more profound. It's the same
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principle of God whittling down the army of Gideon to 300. Why? Because 300 is more advantageous in a
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practical sense for defeating their foe? No. But it is more advantageous if the ultimate goal is to
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garnish glory for God. Secondly, Jesus fasted to recommend fasting to us. That's what I've already
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espoused thus far. God who needs no rest rested to set an example for finite creatures. Jesus,
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and needs. Jesus, on the other hand, wandered faithfully in the wilderness for 40 days,
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not faithlessly, but faithfully for 40 days without provision. And when he is tempted to
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grumble against God by Satan, he does not give him. He does not despair of the Father's goodness.
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That was the first temptation. Going on, Matthew Henry, I'm using him, this late great Puritan.
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He says this, the great thing that Satan aims at in tempting good people is to overthrow their relation to God as a father.
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And so to cut off their dependence on him, their duty to him and their communion with him.
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The good spirit as comforter of the brethren witnesses that they are the children of God.
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He's speaking of the inward witness of the Spirit
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The evil spirit, as the accuser of the brethren,
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So, as it pertains to Christ in our text today,
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the distinct and dynamic difference because it's massive. It is not subtle. Satan does not say to
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Jesus, pray to thy father as a petition, a humble request that he would turn these stones into bread
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for you. But rather what Satan tells Jesus to do is command it yourself to be done. Thy father
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and he was hungry. Oh really he was? He was hungry. Okay yeah just a little just a little snackish you
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know. Yeah 40 days and 40 nights and yeah yeah he's he's starving. By all accounts he should be dead
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and he is near the the very precipice of death. He's barely alive. Barely alive and Satan comes
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to him but here's the key. He does not come to him and say if you are the son of God then your father
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is this that in all three temptations what is it that Jesus wields as his weapon against the fiery
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darts of Satan it's the word of God as it's been said from the book of Ephesians with the armor of
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God it's the only offensive weapon that we have the sword of the spirit the word of God but I did
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find it interesting in my study again citing the commentary of Matthew Henry that Jesus would be
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able to wield the word of God, as it were, without citing verbatim scripture. Why? Because he is the
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very eternal living word of God himself. Jesus is the word of God. Think of John chapter 6,
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where Jesus speaks of man, you know, man, well, he says it here, but in John chapter 6, he says,
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It's the same principle espoused in John chapter 6
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as referenced here in its temptation of the wilderness
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when he says man shall not live by bread alone,
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but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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There is the written word that we have inscripturated,
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inspired by the spirit and illuminated by the spirit still to this day but there's also the
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living word the logos the son of god himself john chapter 1 in the beginning was the word
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not the bible but jesus in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word
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was god he was with god in the beginning later on john chapter 1 verse 14 and the word became
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flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory. Glory as of the only Son of God, full of grace
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and full of truth. Jesus is the Word. And the point here is that Jesus could have combated
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Satan in all his wiles by simply refuting him on his own merit. No, Satan, I will not do that
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because you're trying to get me to despair of the fatherly goodness and provision of God
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to be independent rather than reliant and submissive
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And if Jesus said it, it would be the Word of God.
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He doesn't quote Scripture because of speaking himself
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that He knows that you and I will have to wield.
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The second temptation, demanding the Father's power,
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In the first instance, Satan is trying to get Jesus to be self-reliant,
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making provision for himself rather than trusting that the Lord,
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In the second instance, it is now taking upon himself,
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demanding, presuming upon the power of his Father,
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and cast himself off of the pinnacle of the temple
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despairing of the father's goodness and provision and the second temptation it's public
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in fact it's the most public place that he could possibly be the purpose and there are a few
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purposes to be drawn out but for our purposes today let's simply focus on one satan takes
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jesus to the holy city that is jerusalem to the pinnacle of the temple that is the public square
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Rather than being private and alone in isolation,
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he is now in the most public place he could possibly be.
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And so here the temptation is not self-reliance,
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making provision for himself rather than trusting his father.
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It's proving, taking matters into his own hands once again,
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but now not to provide for his physical nourishment, but to prove his spiritual and true identity.
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All these people doubt that you're the Son of God.
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And if you really are, why don't you take a shortcut?
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Rather than submitting to the Father's will of proving your deity, your sonship,
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throughout his ordained course of time and with the methods and the plan that he has set for you,
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I'll put you right here in the middle of the town square
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the angels will intervene, sent by your Father,
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Your supernatural power and deity will be proven.
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Satan fixes Jesus on a public place in Jerusalem, a populous city,
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in the temple, one of the wonders of the world,
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continually gazed upon with admiration by some one or other.
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Not as he was urged in the former temptation, in the obscurities of the wilderness, but now before multitudes, upon the most imminent stage of action.
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Furthermore, going on, Matthew Henry says this, note, whatever real mischief, now this right here is classic Puritan.
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And when I say classic Puritan, what I mean is far-fetched exegesis that every reformer gives a pass to.
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is He was speaking to the double part of the gospel.
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Read John Bunyan and his commentaries on Leviticus
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and the dietary restrictions given under the Old Covenant
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and why they could eat certain beasts of the field
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he literally makes arguments and says well you can eat the cow that cheweth the cud because
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chewing of the cud is chewing of the goodness of the gospel and and and he's not saying this is
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just an application to be drawn he's saying no this is literally the text this is literally god's
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meaning and for the record i'm here for it i like it i'm down give me some john bunion i just want
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to be able to do it too. I would like to, for me, I'm not against the Puritans. I'd just like to see
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some Puritans today. And to be honest, a lot of the applications that we see from some of the,
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whatever you want to call them, new Christendom, post-millennial, culture, political, engaging,
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muscular reformed wing of the church those guys a lot of the applications we see today
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right the dots connecting it from the text to this practical cultural and political application
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those dots are like right next to each other it's a real straight line john bunyan his dots that's
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like that that's pretty complex it's like you've got to go around the map a little bit and it's
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like don't you see it's simple it's like are you are you joking like we went through 48 different
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dots to draw out that application i mean charles spurgeon prince of preachers do you know why
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everyone likes charles spurgeon today it's really simple if you know feel free to shout it out it's
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really simple because what he's a man he's dead correct that's why we like him good and dead
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You have to get to the fourth and fifth and sixth sermon in the series
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to get to the actual four different types of soil.
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well that sounds like eisegesis it sounds a little far-fetched
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what are we going to do with you we'll call you the prince of preachers
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and hear me i think he is the prince of preachers
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my point is not to say that the puritans were too far-fetched in their exegesis or the charles
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spurgeon took a little liberty with the text that's not my position my position is stop building
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tombs to the prophets and praising them and then when other guys do far less exegesis with the
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clearest applications you could possibly imagine in the culture and politics today,
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stop condemning them. If you really like the Puritans and you really like the Prince of
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Preachers, then stop killing all the Puritans today. Stop doing that. That's my position. So
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that's all for free. But here we go, a very Puritan-esque, which Matthew Henry was,
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a Puritan, ask exegesis. He says this, and I think it's good. Note, whatever real mischief
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is done to us, it is of our own doing. The devil can but persuade. He can push. He can tempt. He
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can prod. But he cannot compel. He cannot force, that is. He can but say, cast thyself down,
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Christian just as he said to Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple cast thyself down Christian but he
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cannot throw us down himself every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust that is
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desire and not forced but as James says enticed it is no new thing for the grace of God to be
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turned into wantonness. License. The grace of God being a license for sin. And for men to take
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encouragement in sin from the discoveries of God's goodwill towards sinners. But shall we
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continue in sin that grace may abound? Throw ourselves down that the angels may bear us up?
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God forbid. What do you call that? You call it loose exegesis. What else do you call fantastic
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preaching? It's good preaching. The scripture can be used this way. And you know who was the
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example for the Puritans in the way that they would exegete scripture? The apostles. Look at
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the way that the apostles exegete the old testament how many texts are cited in the new
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testament from the old especially from the psalms especially psalm 110 and the apostles without
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blushing without a twinkle in the eye without a wink no they're just straight faced they say psalm
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110 says this and that of course means this this this this this this this this this
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and this is my sermon for today you want apostolic preaching you want puritan reformed preaching
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then you have to have preaching with application
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and if you condemn preaching with application then you are merely building tombs to the the
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fathers and the prophets that came before you. But your present actions, they reveal your real
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heart of hypocrisy. You hate the Puritans. You hate apostolic preaching with application.
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You hate all these things. And the only reason you tolerate it or pretend to tolerate it when
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it was done once upon a time is because those books can be edited we can embrace the reformers
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and their soteriology that is their doctrine of salvation and we can reject all their political
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theology because it was icky all right but this is a fantastic point that matthew henry brings up
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what lesson can we learn from jesus resisting the second temptation which was what cast yourself
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down and presume upon the power of God that he would command his angels to bear you up.
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What principle can we glean that's not actually far-fetched, but is perfectly legitimate exegesis?
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Well, the application that we can employ in our lives today is so too we should not cast
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ourselves down. Satan can't push us. When we sin, it's because we jumped, not because we were pushed.
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and so just as Jesus did not presume upon the mercies of God by putting the Lord his God to
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the test neither should we presume upon the grace of God as a license for sin Satan can't push us
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but we can jump and will God catch us in his mercy when we fall yes but God forbid that that be made
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an excuse as a license for sin. Third and final temptation now, denying the Father's glory,
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despairing of the Father's goodness, demanding the Father's power. Now the last and most heinous of
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the temptations where the mask, as it were, of Satan is now pulled fully down. Satan masquerades
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as an angel of light. As I said last week, if there was any time for him to employ this disguise,
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it would have been in the temptations of Jesus.
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pretending to simply care about Jesus' physical well-being
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and making sure that He's taken care of in the wilderness.
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Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain.
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So that Jesus can see all the kingdoms of the world.
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Then Jesus said to him, he doesn't just quote scripture now,
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but Jesus now says to him before quoting scripture, be gone.
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Jesus is now, in a holy and righteous sense, vexed.
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One last time, utilizing Matthew Henry, he says the following,
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The two former temptations had something of color, which would admit a consideration.
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but this was so gross as to not as not to bear a parlay it appears abominable at the first sight
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and therefore is immediately rejected while satan tempted christ to do himself a mischief
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by casting himself down though he yielded not yet he heard it he was willing to hear it but now that
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the temptation flies in the very face of God, Christ cannot bear it. Get thee hence, be gone,
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Satan. Whatever is an abominable thing which we are sure the Lord hates, we must thus abominate it.
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Far be it from us that we should have anything to do with it. In simple translation, Matthew Henry
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is saying this, that which God hates, we must hate. That which God hates, we must hate. God hates
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idolatry. The very last verse in John's first epistle is this, little children, keep yourself
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from idols. God hates idolatry because he loves his own glory. We too must hate idolatry. I've
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the excommunication of the Reformers and the Puritans,
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they have taken a liking to Matthew 4, verses 8, 9, and 10,
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and said the reason why Jesus is He saves His revulsion.
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white hot indignation out of all three temptations this is the one that bothers him the most and why
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why is it that now in the third temptation that Jesus says that's it I've had it be gone I will
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not tolerate another word from you Satan why this response from Christ well in the purview
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of our so-called pretend reformed pastors today it's because here Jesus is tempted
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literally telling him to bow down and worship it.
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Jesus does not forego the offer of the kingdoms of the world.
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When Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus,
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it is a real offer because they really were His kingdoms.
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God gave Adam as viceroy of all earthly creation.
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He gave him dominion over all the world in the garden.
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he then forfeited his kingly rule and dominion to Satan.
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Satan then has and possessed that earthly domain and rule
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from the time of Adam's sin to the time of Christ's obedience.
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the dominion that was once the first Adams forfeited by him to Satan is then taken from
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Satan by the second and final Adam and Jesus is now ruling in power in majesty and in glory
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over all the kingdoms of the earth and like a little leaven which slowly works through the
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whole batch of dough like a small mustard seed that slowly grows into an all earth encompassing
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tree. So too, the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the face of the earth as the waters
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cover the sea. It is not if, it is merely when. This is happening gradually and progressively
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throughout human history because Jesus is not waiting to be king, but he is king. And he is
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executing his kingly authority progressively, little by little, through his body on earth,
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not because Jesus doesn't care for earthly power.
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that we would want to see his kingdom expand over all the earth
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For some of us, it will be in a political and civil sphere.
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Let us then, if that be your will, be Christian princes
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always through the path which Christ embraced it,
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We pray this for Christ's sake and in His name. Amen.