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September 2, 2025 7 mins

We have strength and can make decisions; but are they always the best way to do things, in our own power? Jesus modeled the right approach for us. Will you and I follow that path now?

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Now the doctrine of kenosis says what, again, just
stated here.
Jesus Christ gave up or emptiedhimself of the independent use
of his divine attributes.
Kenosis comes from that wordempty in Philippians 2.
So what does this mean?
He gave up the independent useof his divine attributes.
It means that in theincarnation.
It doesn't mean that, let's sayhe does not mean that he gave

(00:33):
up his divine attributes, likesomehow he laid aside his deity.
No, he had a divine nature andhe had all the attributes of God
in that nature.
But what he did do is he gaveup the independent use of those
divine attributes.
Independent use meaning he didnot use them without, let's say,

(00:54):
permission from the Father,because he says I'll always do
exactly what the Father wants meto do.
He even says, not my will, butthy will be done.
So this is a deprecation orgiving up of his independent use
of the divine attributes.
There are occasions, of course,where the father obviously did
give him permission to use thedivine attributes and he uses

(01:15):
them.
He's like he'll say you know, Isaw you under the fig tree, or
I know what type of person youare.
And these people are like howdid you know?
The Samaritan woman says I meta man.
He told me everything I everdid.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
She's standing there talking tohim and he says.
He says, yeah, well, you knowthe guy you're living with now.
You're not married to himBefore this, you had seven

(01:35):
husbands and dah, dah, dah, dah,dah.
And he starts telling her wholelife to her.
And he she goes to town and shesays I met someone who told me
my entire life.
Could this be the Messiah?
So there are times when heutilizes his divine attributes,
but those would only happen whenthe Father gave him permission
to do so.
Now, importantly, he chose notto use them when he was tempted.

(01:58):
And so let's turn to Luke,chapter 4.
Luke, chapter 4.
Luke, chapter 4.
And make a couple points,points 5 and 6.
Here he chose not to use thedivine attributes when he was
tempted.
In fact, what he was beingtempted to do, the three

(02:20):
temptations that came after the40 days when he became hungry,
the temptations were allessentially to use his divine
attribute without the permissionof the father, in other words,
to use them independently,because in that case he wouldn't
be doing the will of the father, and then he would.
The whole thing would have gonesouth because it would be
quote-unquote sin for him to dothat.

(02:41):
So notice verse 1 jesus, full ofthe holy Spirit, returned from
the Jordan and was being ledaround by the spirit in the
wilderness.
Remember I mentioned this lastweek that this is so interesting
, that it was the spirit whotook him into this situation.
He led the way because thisrelates to the impeccability,
how he as a person could, wasnot able to sin, and so it's

(03:03):
like the Spirit is taking Jesusto the fight.
I think I mentioned, did Imention that when Jesus and the
disciples were in the Garden ofGethsemane and you know they
couldn't even pray with him foran hour, you know I'm like, yeah
, that would be me.
You know it's embarrassing,right, it is.
But you know, try praying foran hour, good luck.

(03:26):
It takes spiritual disciplineto do that right, without, you
know, zonking out or gettingdistracted and thinking about
other things.
But in that scene in Garden ofGethsemane, he tells his
disciples get up, it's time, thedeceiver or the betrayer is at
hand.

(03:46):
And Jesus walks toward wherethe deceiver and the high priest
and the Roman soldiers werecoming.
In other words, he went to thefight.
He wasn't like, oh, they'recoming to get me.
No, he went to them, he wentstraight at it.
And that's the same thing herewith the temptations.

(04:06):
The Spirit was leading Jesusinto the situation to be tempted
.
So let's look at it For 40 days.
Notice verse 2,.
He was being tempted by thedevil and he ate nothing during
those days.
So the longest fast in Judaismis a 40-day fast.
It's a food fast, it's not aliquid fast.

(04:29):
So water would be accessibledown in this area of the Jordan
River.
So there would be water but nofood.
And when they had ended, hebecame hungry.
Duh, if it was me I'd be goingcrazy.
Some people have done this.
But obviously, and the devilsaid to him if you are the son

(04:50):
of God, tell this stone tobecome bread.
Now could he do that?
Yeah, he had all the divineattributes, but he could only
use those divine attributes ifthe father permitted him to turn
a stone into bread.
Right, and Jesus answered andsaid to him man shall not live
on bread alone.
So he quotes scripture.
Right, because evidently theFather didn't want him to use

(05:12):
his divine attributes to dealwith the temptation.
Because if he was using hisdivine attributes to handle the
temptations, would he know whatit's like for you who don't have
divine attributes, to betempted.
No, he would have been able todefeat him with his divine
nature, where he says no, I amgoing to be tempted in all

(05:34):
things, as other people are, anddeal with it the way you would
have to deal with it to show usthat living the christian life
actually works.
And so if he didn't use hisdivine attributes to meet this
temptation, what did he use?
He used the word of God, right,and of course he is.

(05:56):
Notice verse 1, jesus.
What Full of the Spirit.
So he's walking by the Spirit,he's living by the Spirit.
So how are we going to besuccessful in the temptation?
These two things, word of God,I mean.
Did he have it right on histongue?
Yeah, he did.
What does Psalm 119 say?

(06:18):
It says hide your word in myheart that I may not sin against
you.
Isn't that what Jesus did?
And of course, by citing theword, he's also manifesting that
he's depending upon the Spirit.
So the Word and the Spirit,these work together.
So that's the first temptation,and he overcame it.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(07:01):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
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