Why Was Jesus Tempted

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone, it is what day is it? It is Tuesday, February the eleventh, twenty twenty five. It is currently eleven thirty two am Central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I'm laughing not because I forgot temporarily what day of the week it was. I was laughing because I typically when we go live, I hit the music, I hit the intro, and I usually pick up my iPad because I'll say good morning, good afternoon, I'll give you the date, i give you all of that information, tell you I'm coming to you live and all of that. But I usually pick up my iPad because then I can look at you know, good good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, February the eleventh, twenty twenty five, currently eleven thirty three am. And I just have the iPad right there to see the date and the time, and just to make sure I get everything accurate. And I always give the date and time because then once this is uploaded, people six months from now, eight months from now, a year from now. If they find that episode, they have kind of a date reference when it was being recorded, when it was live, They have some kind of historical context to what I'm talking about. So today, when I got ready to pick up the iPad, all of a sudden it would not pick up. And I'm trying to talk and I'll all to heaven and the

1:33 cord that's plugged into the computer was wrapped around it and it was cut in between the iPad and the case, and I was like, oh. I kept almost dropping the iPad. I'm like, what is wrong here? What is going on? And then things started falling everywhere, So yes, I almost want to start over. Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, February the eleventh, twenty twenty five. It is currently eleven. Thirty four am Central time, and I am coming to you live from the very unprofessional Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I hope you're having a good day. I should ask you this question. Did you go to Chapel service today? Did you? Did you?

2:16 Was it Bob Jones? Was that ambassador Baptist College? I don't remember the other one. I'm talking about all of the chapel services that broadcast live on the Sermon's two point zero app the sermon Audio website. If you keep if you pay close attention to the webcast section, you'll see this morning, there was I think two three going on, and I got ready to tune into the Bob Jones Chapel Service, thinking it was just starting, and while it was actually ending, it was the closing song. It was the closing hymn. I'm like, okay, well I missed it. Now. Yesterday I told everyone I was going to tell on you. For missing Well I missed it today.

2:56 So before you can even tell on me, I'm telling I missed it Chapel service. Okay, So I saw that it's already been. Uploaded, so I may you know, I may have to go back and listen to some of it, but yes, I try to anything that comes from a Bible college. Those are the ones seminaries and Bible colleges. I love listening to anything coming from those because that's training equipping the next generation of Christians. I like to hear what they're being taught. I like to hear what's being covered. Now with Bob Jones, they have a chapel a seminary chapel, which I mentioned yesterday. I think that one's. Far more in depth and better than the general chapel service, which sometimes can be You're like, uh, come on, these are college kids.

3:43 We can dig in a little more. But then it also maybe, well's chapel service. They already have, you know, classes and everything. So I mean, we could get into a what should be accomplished in a chapel service or not so, but I like keeping up with all of those. I told everyone that you know every Bible college and seminary on the sermons two. Point oh app you should follow. And as the broadcaster so that you'll always have their new content in. Your feed and the feed tab. And I also, of course, anytime there's a conference, I like to keep up with all the conferences as well. Because you know that shows. I like to see what the theme is for these conferences, especially if it's conferences people are paying, you know, fifty one hundred dollars to get inside of to hear the word.

4:25 Of God preached. Well, I want to know what people pay fifty one hundred dollars to hear, so are two hundred to three hundred whatever? I mean some of these conferences charge a pretty a good amount of money for people to get in to hear the Bible preach, so I'm always fascinated by that. I could I could go in my full blown rant on all of that. But yeah, so I didn't make it this morning, but I can say this before the chapel services started, before all of them started broadcasting live on the sermon's two point oh app I was looking around listening to things, and I stumbled upon a devotional message this morning. It was about fifteen minutes long, and I was like, okay, this is interesting. The first part I thought was really really good. The first part I was like, this is good.

5:13 I could do something with this. So I spent a good portion this morning expanding it, kind of adding to it. But the second part brought up some issues that I'm like, oh boy, I don't know about this. So I think what we're going to do. I think what I'm going to do today is I want to at least talk about the first part of this devotional message, and then tomorrow we'll talk about I don't think i'll broadcast later today. Maybe if I do, we'll talk about the second part. Because both parts here are very important. All right, And basically it will come down to really two questions, right, why was Jesus tempted? And how did he overcome the temptation?

6:00 Why was Jesus tempted? How did he overcome the temptation? Now, when I listened to this, the why part was fascinating, and I'm like, Okay, I can agree to a whole lot of this. Right, this is really good. I can do something with this. The how I became a little problematic in my estimation because it was basically, well, this is how Jesus overcame temptation. And the implication was if I'll simply do what Jesus did, then I can overcome all temptation, which I guess means I know that they would not say it means this, but the implication would be, well, if I can do simply what Jesus did, well, then I can overcome all temptation, meaning then I should never sin.

6:47 But we know I'm going to continue to sin. So can I simply do? Was was it meant to demonstrate? I mean, we take the temptation of Jesus sometimes and act like again, it's not descriptive, it's prescriptive. And all I have to do is do what Jesus did, and I can overcome temptation. But there is a huge difference. He was God in the flesh. He was God incarnate. Now, what some people do is try to separate the deity and the humanity so much that well, when Jesus was tempted, there was no deity part, you know, played in it. It was just in his humanity. And he overcome temptation true completely as a man, not separate from his deity.

7:30 And I and I as a man, you as a human human being, man, woman. Girl, doesn't matter. We all we have to do is follow the template and then we can overcome temptation. And there, I We're we're gonna have to get into a very deep. Discussion about that. I've got some I've got some issues and if you're not, I know, to have some issues. If you're not careful, you can actually start falling into some chrystological errors there if you're not careful in how you handle that. So I think we have to be careful. So before we get to the how, let's get to why was Jesus tempted? And here's what we're going to do. I'm going to play a little bit of the devotional that I heard, I would challenge you to when you listen, carefully write down the name of it. You may want to go follow them on the sermon's two point zero app or the sermon audio homepage.

8:19 You may want to follow them. I think they do this. Maybe they may do this every day, these fifteen minute devotionals, which can be very beneficial when you don't have a lot of time. And I want you to at least listen to it. And you know it is from a Presbyterian Church, so obviously they would believe in infant baptism. And typically, as we've. Heard and reviewing sermons on Isaiah forty through Isaiah fifty five, if it comes from a Presbyterian church, you can almost inevitably know how they're going to handle Old Testament passages. Magically, the church is going to appear, We're going to be inserted into the text, and Israel tends to get moved out. We would have some criticisms there, but the way they handled this first part about why Jesus was tempted, I thought they do a really good job bring up some very and good points. So we're going to focus on that with the how he overcame. It's the implications that people draw from how He overcame that we have to discuss.

9:16 I want to get to today. Why was Jesus tempted? Let's talk about it, and we're going to do so by listening to what I heard early this morning. I think it was around five am. Here it is. Good morning, and welcome to walking with Jesus in the Gospels. I'm Pastor Jason van Bemmel from Forest Hill Presbyterian Church. It's our second day of week two and we're in Matthew chapter four, taking a look at the temptation of Jesus right after he was baptized by John and the River Jordan, which you looked at yesterday. He's driven out into the wilderness to be tempted. Let's ask God's help as we turned this part of his word today. Heavenly Father, please speak to us through Matthew four. Please help us to see what you would have us learn from the temptations of Jesus and the way that he overcame the devil.

10:14 We pray this in his name. Amen. Now you know all you know what I'm going to say. I say this every single time, and look I do the same thing. I fall into the same. Trap, all right, if, in fact, if you'll go listen to my closing prayers on Sunday morning. I think it was specifically the second hour closing prayer, because as soon as I got in the car, I almost. Like to started hitting myself in the head. You do the same thing you complain about. Listen, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know how many times I can say this, Pastors, Christians, Christian podcasters. When we pray in regards to preaching, teaching, and studying the Bible, we have this tendency to basically pray like, God, help me see the truth, Show me the truth, help me understand the truth, like as if God is going to be involved and helping us understand, helping us learning, helping us get it.

11:13 And all I can say to you two thousand years of church history and we don't agree on literally anything. So if God is helping, he's obviously helping Baptists come to a different conclusion the Presbyterians and Presbyterians to come to different conclusions in Church of Christ and Church of Christ in different conclusions than Charismatics and Charismatics different and sometimes even within one group Baptist Lutherans. I mean, there's just disagreement, disagreement. Nobody agrees on baptism, nobody agrees on repentance, nobody agrees on salvation, nobody agrees literally on anything. In fact, even in this devotional, see he's praying that God helps him, that God helps it. Well, if God's helping him, then can I disagree with anything?

11:58 He says? Well, what if God is helping me? Well, if God is helping me and I come to a different conclusion, it just logically falls apart. I just believe God has given us his word and a written form, the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and then it's our job to read it and understand it, utilizing the basic skills and the basic techniques that we would use to interpret anything, whether it's literature, whether it's a textbook, we have to use those interpretive skills and principles. I know people say, well, that just makes it very academic. Where's the spiritual part of it? I don't know where the spiritual part is, because if God is involved in helping me understand, we should have it. There should be one denomination and one commentary, okay, because it would be all from God.

12:51 So I understand it's so natural to do. I will do the same thing. You know, the Lord help us do this, help me figure this out, and I'll be like, what am I doing? Because if it really worked that way? I guess some say, was there anything wrong with praying the way? I guess not. But that becomes a problem when you think now that your interpretation was given to you by God, well then it becomes almost an infallible interpretation. So yeah, but I just have to mention that because I run into the same problem. I fall into the same trip. We've almost been. It's ingrained in our brain. It's like, this is what you say, but I have issues. Let's get to this.

13:33 The temptation of Jesus, Well, he's gonna break it down. Here we go Matthew four. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry, and the tempter came and said, to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the Holy City and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him again, it is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. 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. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and reministering to him. So why was Jesus tempted and how did he overcome? Those are our questions for today. Well.

14:59 Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John and was consecrated and anointed by the Holy Spirit as our Messiah, He's led by the Spirit into the desert wilderness where he fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil. Okay, so the two questions are why was Jesus tempted? And how did he overcome? Now, my question to you, from an interpretive hermeneutical perspective, is this, do we read the Temptation of Jesus as descriptive or do we read it as prescriptive? Almost every church you have ever attended. And I will argue, every sermon you have probably ever listened to on the Temptation of Jesus almost immediately looks at it from a prescriptive perspective.

15:49 This is how Jesus was tempted. This is the prescription for you, for me, and how we can overcome temptation. We can be like Jesus. And I'm going to argue, I don't know if this is as prescriptive as everyone makes it out to be. I think it's more descriptive. And I think the reason we know it's descriptive is when we start answering the question why was Jesus tempted? We see the very descriptive nature of this. It's very descriptive. It's describing what Jesus did and the significance of that for us is important, all right, So he wants to answer these two questions.

16:29 As I've already pointed out, we're gonna focus on simply the why today. Right the why I'm gonna let you give. I'm gonna let you hear him give the three reasons why Jesus was tempted. And then I will expand on each one. Here we go. That is a rough start to a ministry. There's so much we could discuss about jesus temptation, but right now, let's focus on two questions. Why was he tempted and how did he overcome? Jesus was tempted in our place as our savior for three main reasons. First, so he could fulfill all righteousness for us and earn a perfect human righteousness. For us, all right.

17:12 Number one, to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers. To fulfill all righteousness, so he could provide in a sense of a righteousness to us. To fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers. Now, as soon as I heard that, I was like, yes, yes, all right, I love this now. Immediately that tells me, wait a minute, this is more descriptive than prescriptive. Right, that's not prescribing what I need to do in order to become righteous. This is showing me what Christ did in order to fulfill all righteousness in my place for me. All right, this goes right to imputed righteousness. Right, this goes to so well, we're going to expand on this. I don't want to expand on it now, but.

17:58 Just write that first one down. Jesus was tempted to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers. Just say, on behalf of us, right, Jesus he did this to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of us. Right. Now, Let's see what the second reason is. Second of all, so he could suffer while tempted and become a merciful and sympathetic high priest for us, all. Right, Reason number two to become a merciful and sympathetic high priest for an order for him to be sympathetic, and order for him to have on some understanding. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.

18:46 He understands he has experienced temptation, so he can be a merciful and sympathetic high priest. And we can look at Hebrews four for some supporting scripture for that, and we will expand on each one of these. What was the first reason Jesus was tempted to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers? Number two to become a merciful and sympathetic high priest. What is the third reason Jesus was tempted? And third it was to be the new atom, the head of a new humanity that would be redeemed in him. So number three, to succeed where Adam failed to become the head of a redeemed humanity. Adam fell, He did not.

19:33 Israel failed, he did not. He He does what well, nobody else could. Adam couldn't. Israel couldn't. Nobody could. He does what nobody else is cants do. Now he becomes the head of a redeemed humanity who are redeemed not because of what we do or try to do, or can't do or shouldn't do, but what he did. All right, I'll him just talk just a little bit more. He's getting ready to get into the how, and that's immediately where we're going to stop, because I do not want to get into that now, because we've got a lot of questions about this. But this right here just demonstrates to see, the entire temptation is descriptive. It's describing what Jesus did. Now we can learn from that, and it has major implications on us. But I don't think it's prescribing us the way that we can while we can be just like.

20:20 Jesus and never sin. Well, now that's yeah. I think there's whole lot of issues with that perspective. We'll talk about that later. Let's see if he says any more about those three things. I think he almost immediately transitions into the how. Let's see if he says any more here. Jesus had to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law to the fullest extent, which required him to face trials just like we do. He was tempted in every way, just as we are, and yet without sin. Hebrews four fifteen says in doing so he earned a perfect righteousness. He entered into our trials and our suffering. He passed a more severe test than Adam failed, thus fixing Adam's fall by reversing the curse of the Garden of Eden.

21:04 And how did he do it? As our messiah, who was fully man Jesus overcame Satan's temptation by reliance on the Holy Spirit. Okay, now he's getting into the how. He's getting into the how. Notice he immediately when he goes into the how, he immediately focuses. On jesus humanity. Jesus was fully man, didn't mention his deity, goes fully into that. And then how did he do it by relying? He relied on this and relied on this. All I have to do and my full humanity is rely on that. There's a couple of things. Even in his humanity, he did not have a sinful nature. All right, So we're already getting into the how. Oh see, there's so much I want to think about. Let's get into the why here, all right?

21:46 Why was Jesus tipt it? Well, Number one, let's go back. We're going to expand each one of these to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers, To fulfill all righteousness on behalf of belief, are. On behalf of us. One of the primary reasons I think this is important that Jesus was tempted was to fulfill all righteousness living in complete obedience to God's law on behalf of his people. When whenever we talk about Jesus fulfilling all righteousness, he lived in complete obedience to God's law. He fulfilled the law perfectly, He completed it perfectly. And this is completely unlike, completely opposite to Adam, completely opposite and different than Israel, completely opposite and different.

22:43 Than all of humanity. All of us we fail. No one of us, no, not one of us, can fulfill all righteousness. None of us can live in complete obedience to God's law, whether before salvation or after salvation. We can't do it. But Jesus fully obeyed God in every single way, earning a perfect righteousness that would be imputed to anyone who believes. When you believe in Christ, that perfect obedience, that fulfilling of the law, the fulfilling of all righteousness, is imputed, accredited to your account. In practice you're sinning, and practice you're not fulfilling the law. In practice you're disobeying. In your position, that righteousness is accredited to your account. See when, I when when when you read the Temptation of Jesus, it's almost like, okay, look, look when we read about God's law way back here in the Bible, and all we have seen since Adam and Eve has sinned. We have seen failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure.

23:58 Sin, sin, sins and sins, and sins and sin. We have seen the law of God, and all we have seen is disobedience to that law. Over and over and over and over and over again. Even amongst Israel, even. Among mean the supposedly godly, we constantly see failure. Now, finally Jesus steps on the scene and right, oh, here we go, here we go. Okay, Jesus, we got to have someone to help us out here. No one can fulfill this law. Everyone has failed. Come on, here we go. We're in Matthew four. This, Come on, come on, Jesus. We need you to do it because no. One else can. And then Jesus fulfills it perfectly. And then that perfection and that perfect obedience is the accredited to me by faith so in Christ. And this is always crazy when people say, well, this proves that you're saying if you do this, this will prove that you're saved, or if you do this, it will prove that you're saved.

24:55 What are you talking about? My actions don't prove my salvation. The actions of Christ prove my salvation because by putting my faith in Him, his obedience is imputed to my account. So if you say I have to do this, or I have to do this, or I can't do this in order to prove that I'm saved, I'm like, well, in Christ, I've. Done all of those things and not done all of those things. So you can't give me a test. If you give me a test, I give it to Jesus and I get a passing grade. In fact, I get perfection because his perfection is accredited to my account. Therefore, you can't throw anything in my face. They say, well, I don't think you're safe because you did this or you did that. No, my salvation is not based on what I do or don't do. That's the whole point of imputed righteousness. If you don't like the concept of imputed righteousness, return back to Roman Catholicism because they teach infused righteousness, which is sadly what many non Catholics basically practice in their theology. Jesus came as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. We see this in I think Matthew five seventeen the Sermon on the Mount, he says, think not that I've come to destroy the Law or the prophets.

26:05 I am not come to destroy. But to fulfill, for verily asking to you, till heaven and earth passed one jot or one tittle, shall and no whys pass from the Law till all be fulfilled. Christ fulfilled it. All. Whoever therefore shall break. One of these least commandments shall teach men, so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. We can't even break the smallest commandment, but Jesus fulfilled them all. Jesus came as a fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, meaning he had to obey all of God's commandments flawlessly. His obedience and the temptation was necessary that he could offer our righteousness, not just free from sin.

26:50 But actively perfect and complete. It's not just that Jesus didn't sin, No, it's his obedience that is we in Christ. We have all of our sins paid for and washed away. But then we have the. Perfect obedience, an active righteousness accredited to my account. So I stand in. Christ before God as this, as if I'm actively in obedience to every single law, to every letter of the law. Now, unlike Israel who failed in the wilderness. When Israel was in the wilderness, they failed, Jesus goes into the wilderness and he succeeds. He obeys. Remember, Israel was given the law and failed. Jesus goes into the wilderness and obeys the law. And then after this temptation, what does he do.

27:52 He begins to teach, really expounds the very law, because. He is obedient to all of it. That's why he says immediately after Matthew five seventeen, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach man, so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, who's the only one who keeps them Jesus, He's the one who keeps them right. So what's the first reason Jesus was tempted to fulfill all righteousness on. Behalf of believers?

28:33 All right, we have Matthew five seventeen. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them Tewod Corinthians five twenty one. For our sake, He made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It is in him that we become righteous, not in action. In our position, we are declared to be that which we are not. Romans five eighteen through nineteen. Therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification in life for all men. For by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. We are made righteous by his obedience.

29:21 We are not made. Righteous in practice and action. We are made righteous in our position. It's imputed, it's not infused. Hebrews five, verses eight through nine. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through. If I can read correctly here. Although Hebrews five eight through nine, although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Jesus. Obedience and resisting temptation was part of his active righteousness, which is accredited to all believers, making them righteous before God. We made righteous before God by belief in Christ and an imputed righteousness. Why was Jesus tempted to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of believers? What's the second reason? Jesus was tempted to become a merciful and sympathetic high priest.

30:18 Jesus experience of temptation allows him to relate to humanity and our struggles, making him a compassionate and understanding high priest. He suffered in a sense and temptation. It was absolutely necessary that he could sympathize. With human weakness. Jesus experienced the full weight of human temptation, yet without sin. We see that in Hebrews four fifteen. This was just not for philological purposes, but for relational and pastoral reasons, so that believers can trust in him as our intercessor.

30:58 We know he can make interest, and we know we have an advocate because he understands that we have been tempted, and he knows that he was without it. But he understands that we are constantly failing and falling short. The fact that Jesus was tempted but did not sin. Possibly can at least give us the idea at least Hebrews Force seems to indicate this that he understands to some level our struggles. He has some understanding in a deeper way about this whole problem of temptation. Now he did not sin, but at least gone he went through the process to some level of the at least being tempted.

31:53 You think about it this way. As a high priest, Jesus does not just offer a sacrifice, He himself is the sacrifice. He intercedes for believers based on firsthand knowledge of their weakness, or at least firsthand knowledge of temptation. And we have a number of scriptures here that we can look at Hebrews two seventeen through eighteen. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted Hebrews four fifteen through sixteen. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, thin, with confidence, draw near to the throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need.

32:51 And I think that grace and mercy is we come to Him and Tom in need, because we're going to fall in our temptation, and we're going to need his sacrifice and his forgiveness. All right, First, John two to one. I got a number of scriptures here, my little children. I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. Jesus was tempted. He understands human weaknesses, not just in a theoretical sense, but an experiential sense to some level, making him the perfect advocate and the perfect intercessor. So why did Jesus Why was he tempted number one to fulfill all righteousness for on behalf of believers, and number two to become a merciful and sympathetic high priest.

33:41 How about number three? He was tempted to succeed where Adam fell and become the new atom. Jesus temptation was a deliberate reenactment of Adam's failure in the Garden of Eden, the difference, but with a completely different outcome. Adam well, he fell, he gave in, He caved to temptation. He brought sin into the world, but Jesus resisted and secured the foundation for a new redeemed humanity. And Genesis three, Adam and Eve failed when tempted by Satan, bringing sin, death, and separation from God into the world. Jesus, the second Atom, faced temptation in a harsher environment, the wilderness, rather than paradise, and he overcame. One was in a garden with everything, Jesus was in a wilderness without food for forty days.

34:33 So one is fasted for forty days, the other one was in a garden with everything. It's a complete stark contrast between the two. Again, I don't think this is being prescriptive. It's describing what Jesus did and their specific philological and biblical reasons for setting this up. And remember the spirits, the one who led him here. This was God's plan for this to happen. It is a direct contrast of what happened in the garden, but in every way opposite. Jesus victory in the wilderness, in a sense, reverses the effects of adam sin and inaugurates a new humanity.

35:14 All right, So we are now saved, and we are saved by his obedience. We are in him. Just as adams disobedience was imputed to all his descendants, christ obedience is imputed to all who belonged to him by faith. Some scriptures Romans five twelveth through nineteen. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. That's Romans five twelve through nineteen one Corinthians fifteen. This is thus, it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being. The last atom became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spirit that is that is first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust.

36:02 The second man is from heaven. A contrast between Adam and Christ. Genesis three one through six. Adam's failure when tempted by Satan Luke four one through thirteen, Jesus' success and resisting Satan's contrasting Adam's failure Philippians two, verses eight through nine, and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. Through through his perfect obedience, Jesus became the head of a new humanity, reversing the curse and securing the. Redemption of all who trust in him. There are the three reasons why Jesus was tempted. Let me go through those again.

36:52 Number one, he was tempted to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of on behalf of Us. Number two, to become a merciful and sympathetic high priest. Number three, to succeed where Adam fell and become the new Adam. Become the head now of a redeemed humanity that in him can be declared perfect righteous and obedience. Jesus temptation, then, is not just some isolated event. It was a necessary part to fulfill all righteousness. See when people say why did Jesus come, he came to die no, no, no, no no. He came to fulfill the law. He came to If if all he did was just come.

37:37 To die, then then you've missed the whole point. You don't need someone just to die for your sins. You've got to have someone who will obey the law for you, because even if Jesus dies and pays for your sins, you still would not have the righteousness that God demands. You can't just have your sins paid for. You need a perfect, active obedience accredited to your account. And Jesus didn't give you that because he kept the law perfectly. He came to fulfill all righteousness. He came to obey, He came to pay. He obeyed so that that obedience can be mine, And he paid for.

38:18 All of my disobedience. It was a necessary part of his mission to fulfill all righteousness, become a merciful high priests, and establish a redeem humanity. Each aspect of victory directly impacts us. His righteousness is credited to us, right, that's our justification. He understands their struggles, so we have a compassionate advocate. That's good to know, because you know why, you know why we need someone who can understand. You know why we need an intercessor. You know why we need an advocate. You know why we need to be able to approach the throne of grace. You know why we need mercy. You know why we need grace because he keeps sinning and he inaugurates a new redeem humanity. We're no longer under Adam's curse. We are in the second atom, and we have been freed from the curse. Now we have eternal life. Those are the reasons he came. All of that is descriptive. It's describing everything he did. Now there is a part that's a applicable to us, but it's not prescribing something I do.

39:31 It's describing everything he did. So what we have a tendency to do then is we say, okay, here's why he came, and we may even approach that in a descriptive way. Then when it gets to how he overcame, then we're like, oh, now that's prescribing. If if all. Jesus needed to do was say, hey, guys, this is how you can just obey the law perfectly, he would have just shown us how to do it. Jesus could give us five million examples of every single way he did not sin and how he overcome every sin. And you will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ever. Ever be able to replicate it, to follow it. You will never be able to because the difference between Jesus and you, well there's two major differences.

40:19 He's God in the. Flesh, and second, he did not have a sinful nature. You are a fallen human being. You're not God, you're not deity, you are a sinful man. Well, I'll just recite scripture, and then that's how it's always done. See, this is why you need a memorize scripture. Whenever Jesus, whenever Satan knocks on your door, you just respond with scripture. You just quote scripture. If you'll just quote scripture, No. I need scripture to remind me that Christ has died and paid for me and whenever, and the scripture show me my sin and drives me to Christ and the imputed righteousness. But it's always taught like, hey, all you gonna do is do it Jesus and you won't sin. Well, if that's the case, then there would be no sin in Christianity for two thousand years. And we know that's not the case, it's describing the fact that Jesus came to.

41:19 He came army stated this way. Jesus was tempted, as it's described, to accomplish the things I've outlined, and the text just. Describes how he did not sin. I don't think it's prescribing some new formula for me not to It's giving me the assurance. See, he did fulfill all righteousness because he didn't sin. He is a. Merciful high priest because he was tempted yet without sin. Yes, he is the new Adam. He is the head of a new humanity because in him that obedience is mine. All the whole text is showing us that he was tempted and he did not sin.

42:01 We turn it into a formula for hey, follow these five things and you will not sin. You know how many times this formula has been taught and people keep sinning, Well, just do what Matthew for says, Well, I'm doing it. Well, why do you keep sinning? Well, I don't know. Maybe because I'm not God in the flesh. Maybe because I have a sinful nature that Jesus did not have. Remember the whole virgin birth thing. We always make it prescriptive. I think it's descriptive. I think that when and especially sometimes in Sunday School, we teach kids like. If we'll just do what Jesus did, you will you'll be a good little boy and girl and you'll never sin. No, Jesus did it, because you're not a good little boy and girl, and you're going to sin and you're going to fall short.

42:50 But I've got good news for you. Jesus obeyed where you do not faith in him, his obedience becomes yours. So you get to stand before God declared to be a good little boy and a good little girl, even though we all know you're not because you're not, just like your teacher is not good, your pastor is not good, your mom and dad is not good. Because there is none that do with good, no, not one. I know that ruins a lot of Sunday School lessons. And I'm sorry, but we'll get to the howl part. I know I'm kind of giving it away, but we'll get to the. Howl part next time.

43:32 So what were the three reasons? What were the three reasons that Jesus was timpted? What are the three reasons? I'm asking it like I'm waiting for someone in the congregation to answer to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf, so that he could be a merciful and sympathetic high priest. And we need a merciful and sympathetic high priest. We need a merciful, sympathetic high priest who will intercede for us and will be our advocate because we're. To keep sinning. And number three, so that. He could succeed where Adam felled and become basically the new Atom and the head of those of us who are now redeemed in Him. Just as we all become sinners and Adam. Think of it this way, we all become righteous. We all become obedience in the new Atom, in the second Atom in Christ. Not it, we become obedient and righteous, and what we do, we become obedient.

44:34 And righteousness, because that is just like. Adam's guilt is imputed to you, and you're guilty in Adam without you ever doing anything. You never even had to do anything. You were already guilty. Well, in Christ, you never have to do anything, and you're already obedient and righteous in Christ. Because that's the whole doctrine of imputation, which for some weird reason. This was a key argument against the Roman Catholic Church, where they believed in infused and we argued for imputed, and then all of these years later it's like, we almost want to go back to Roman Catholicism. Why was Jesus tempted?

45:16 How would you have answered the question prior to this broadcast? Now you know what I'm gonna say, Hey, when you go to church, do you have church Wednesday? Walk around and ask people why was Jesus tempted? What answers did they get? Is your church doing some Valentine's banquet or something? Well, while everyone's you know, talking about whatever they do at Valentine's banquets, could you say, hey, why was Jesus tempted? Right now? I will not recommend that if you're out on a date on Valentine's Night with your spouse, you say, hey, why was Jesus tempted? Okay, may kind of ruin the romantic mood, but it is a good theological discussion to have maybe prior to that and Sunday when you go to church, Hey, guys, I got a question, why was Jesus tempted? And see what they say. I'll just be curious what answers you're going to get. And if you answered this differently than those three way those three things, what would you what would what have been your reason?

46:17 A lot of people say to serve as an example for us, to show us how we can overcome sin. That's almost Preachers may not always start there, but that almost all of their sermons in there. He was tempted to show us how we can overcome sin. No, he he did it because we can't overcome sin. And that's the whole point. He had to do it for us. Oh, the whole point. All right, there we go. So I didn't make it to chapel, so you can go tell on me. But I see I did listen to something, all right, I didn't listen something. Now currently on the sermons two point oh wow, hand on, let me look here, I.

47:01 Do want on. I don't know when this was posted Bob Jones University. They posted a message called healthy frustration, healthy frustration. I want to know what healthy frustration is. I need to know what healthy frustration is. When when is it healthy for me to be frustrated? I need to know that? Okay, So I want to go listen to that. I have it queued up. It's only twenty two minutes long. I do want to. Listen to that. But hang on, let's go here. I'm going to go wait, go to home. There are currently three broadcasts happening. One of us is US, the other one is let's see. We have a church in Michigan and a church in Tennessee. So those are currently on. So the chapel services appear to all be over. So did you go to chapel today? If you didn't, why not?

47:45 What were you doing? What were you doing? Okay, right there you go, but look for help. It's a staff pick. Actually, it's one of the staff picks. If you look at the homepage of the sermon's two point oh app it's the number first staff pick healthy frustration. It's had two hundred and ninety seven people watch it. I want to go listen to that one. How can is there a frustration that's healthy for me? I need to know what it is because I want that frustrating. Okay, but no, I am curious on that when I do need to listen to that. All right, thanks for tuning in. Now you know the three I think good reasons why Jesus was tempted, and we'll have to talk about the how next time, which is probably going to lead to unhealthy frustration on my part, because I get real, I'm not so in line with how most Christians approach this.

48:43 I think they I don't think it's prescriptive. I think it's descriptive. I really do. But all right, we'll have that hermoneutical argument next time. Thanks for listening, God bless