[Due to to COVID19 restrictions, we are doing things a little differently at Benchley and an audio recording is not available for this lesson. However, the lesson was live-streamed and can be watched below. -MRW]

Luke Beamon: Dealing with Temptation

• Matthew 4:1-11 - Jesus was confident because He had scripture on His side.
• Matthew 6:19-21 - Remember the consequences of sin! Sin costs you your eternal home.
• Matthew 7:7 - We can always ask God for help.
• Matthew 26:69 - The more you do something, the easier it gets. Each time Peter denied Jesus, it got easier. Each time we resist sin, it gets easier!

Jesse Jenkins: Difficult Passages

• Psalms 51:5
  • Some interpret this verse to mean that David was guilty of sin from birth (i.e., total depravity, a Calvinist doctrine).
  • The context is David’s lament after Nathan rebuked him for his sin with Bathsheba. That is not a sin he was guilty of from birth.
  • This is a hyperbolic statement. David is emphasizing his own sin. Compare a similar literary technique used in I Timothy 1:15. Paul had done sinful things, but this did not make him the chief of sinners. After all, he_thought_he was doing right.
    • Compare also Psalms 22:10; 71:6; 139:13-14
  • Interpreting this verse to mean David was guilty from birth directly contradicts verses like Ezekiel 18:2-4. “The soul that sins shall die.”
  • Matthew 19:14 - We must be like little children to enter the kingdom of God. How can that be true if little children have inherited sin?
  • II Corinthians 5:10 - We will be judged based on what_we_do with our own bodies.
• Matthew 7:1-5
  • Some interpret this passage to mean that we should not judge anyone.
  • The context of this passage is that we should not judge others in ways that we would not want to be judged ourselves. Judging others more harshly than you would want to be judged is hypocrisy!
  • Those who say you cannot judge are themselves judging others!
  • John 7:24 - We are to judge with righteous judgment.