“What’s with ‘Lead us not into temptation’?”

Steve Brown:
What’s with lead us not into temptation? The answer to that and other questions on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life dedicated to the message that the only people who get any better are those who know that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them anyway. That teaching raises a lot of questions. So here’s author and seminary professor Steve Brown, along with Pete Alwinson from ForgeBibleStudy.com with answers to the Bible that will make you free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
How you doing?

Steve Brown:
I’m doing good. How are you?

Pete Alwinson:
Good. You haven’t gotten sick yet?

Steve Brown:
No. But when I want people to leave me alone, I cough a lot.

Pete Alwinson:
[Laughing]

Steve Brown:
Wipe my brow. Like I’m sweating.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Like you’ve got a temperature.

Steve Brown:
People, they divide like the waters of the red sea, just to get away from me. Between that and my hearing aid issues. You know, I could pretty much live as a hermit.

Pete Alwinson:
There you go. But, but I mean, it’s an idea. Bit you would never do that.

Steve Brown:
No. Cause I minister to people. I can’t do that without people.

Pete Alwinson:
Exactly.

Steve Brown:
But sometimes don’t you want to.

Pete Alwinson:
[Laughing]

Steve Brown:
Speaking of people, by the way, Pete has a, if you’re a guy, they’re absolutely wonderful Forge groups that are meeting. There are three of them and one of them you’re going to do online.

Pete Alwinson:
Yup.

Steve Brown:
Kind of explain that.

Pete Alwinson:
Well, we got the other two up here in Orlando. If you’re in the Orlando area, join us.

Steve Brown:
They can find that at your website.

Pete Alwinson:
ForgeTruth.com But the other thing is that we’re trying to do another virtual one for our downtown group that hasn’t gotten started yet. So.

Steve Brown:
So you’re going to do kind of a zoom thing.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
That’s interesting technology.

Pete Alwinson:
It is.

Steve Brown:
We’re doing our talk show with that.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
From our houses. And it’s working. I did an interview with a station in Atlanta, I think, or something this past week. And. They had their own software, which was geared just for broadcasting.

Pete Alwinson:
Nice.

Steve Brown:
I mean, it’s just amazing.

Pete Alwinson:
I know, I know.

Steve Brown:
You know, we don’t ever have to go anywhere.

Pete Alwinson:
[Laughing]

Steve Brown:
It’s hard to hug your grandchildren though.

Pete Alwinson:
It is hard to do that, but we do need to get together. I’m I’m, that’s why two of them groups are open.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. It makes a difference. We were designed to be with each other, by the way, that is Pete, go to ForgeBibleStudy.com Have I been saying this wrong?

Pete Alwinson:
No, we, you know, we’re really focusing on, and I haven’t told you this to you, so it’s my fault. We just focused back on ForgeTruth.com

Steve Brown:
ForgeTruth.com Okay. I need to make a note of that. So I don’t, you know, I don’t make very many mistakes.

Pete Alwinson:
No, you don’t.

Steve Brown:
I mean, occasionally I think I do, but they really weren’t when I check.

Pete Alwinson:
They weren’t. When you look at it, You realize, no, that was your mistake.

Steve Brown:
Pete comes in on Fridays and we answer your questions and we love your questions and you. You can call 1-800-KEY-LIFE, 24 seven. Record your questions, sometimes we’ll put your voice on the air. Or you can send them to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

In Canada

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Or you can email your question to [email protected]. And by the way, if you can help us financially, those are good touch points. And we’ll rise up and call you blessed, and be as faithful with your gift that you were and giving it. I promise. Pete lead us in prayer and we’ll get to these questions.

Pete Alwinson:
Alright. Let’s pray. Our great God, what a joy to be able to come to you at the end of the day, to be able to pray, to be able to know that we can come into the very presence of the triune God who created us. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And Lord, we confess our sins. We do sin in so many ways, commission, omission, things that we should do, things that we left out. And, and, and Lord, we just come to you. We thank you for your grace, that deals with all of our sin. Jesus, what an incredible work you accomplished on the cross for us. And we rest in your work and your work alone. We pray that your grace would energize us as we live for you, in all of our relationships and in all of our life. Thank you for Key Life, for Steve, for those that do so much behind the scenes. And father, we, we really do pray for our pastors, our teachers, our priests, our worship directors, how important they are. And we thank you for them, Lord. And pray that you would use them this weekend as we go to church. And we. Uh, whether it’s online, whether it’s virtual or whether it’s in presence, we pray that you would use that time to draw us closer to you. Now we commit this time to you and pray, that you would do amazing things in our life as we answer questions. And by your spirit that you teach us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Steve Brown:
Amen. I love the way the guy, this guy. I think it’s a guy, it could be a lady too. And this email asked the question, Jesus, ask our father not to lead us in temptation. Really? There much better something that I’m not seeing here. I mean, as if he would, what loving father, earthly or heavenly, would ever lead their children into temptation?

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Right. He gets it.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, he does.

Pete Alwinson:
So do we even need to answer it further?

Steve Brown:
Oh, we don’t. And we can ignore Jesus’ prayer. Right?

Pete Alwinson:
Okay.

Steve Brown:
So, you know something, that’s an important part of the Lord’s prayer.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Because it’s a confession of our weakness. That’s all it is. It’s like, don’t, you know how weak I am.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
Keep that in mind in the places where I go and the things that I do. And that’s exactly what it means. It’s not some kind of deep theological thing about God leading. And by the way, temptation means test.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
It doesn’t necessarily mean don’t lead me into a strip joint. I mean, he’s not saying that.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
Of course, God wouldn’t lead you into a strip joint, but sometimes God says, I’m going to take you to a place that’s going to scare the spit out of you, but I’m going to go with you and it’s going to be okay.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And as Jesus said on the cross, and he was praying what he said for us to pray. Father, if it’s possible, may this cup be withdrawn from me. And that’s the same thing as saying, Lord, you know, this is scary to me, so not my will, but your will be done.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. And it really is a Hebrewism. Isn’t it? It’s, it’s a Hebrew way

Steve Brown:
Oh yeah. It is.

Pete Alwinson:
of saying this, lead us not to into temptation, of course God would never lead us into temptation, but it’s a Jewish way of saying that. Keep me from temptation.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
And, and you’re right. It’s it’s also, I mean, anybody who says God, here we are in the morning, would you make my day miserable?

Steve Brown:
[Laughing]

Pete Alwinson:
You know, that’s not good. No, God created the world perfectly. He doesn’t want us to have a horrible life, but so we ask for him to lead us, to keep us from trial or the temptations that are out there.

Steve Brown:
And he hears that, that’s an important prayer.

Pete Alwinson:
It is.

Steve Brown:
Even in the Hebraic colloquial expression that it is. It’s a good way to pray.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
All right. Hope that helps. We have spoken from Sinai and now you know the truth.

Pete Alwinson:
There it is.

Steve Brown:
This is an email. Passages, like Acts 10:30-35 and John 3:16 would seem to indicate that God would not and did not capriciously choose certain people for heaven for no known reason and in a similar way, did not choose others. Are these passages anywhere in the Bible? Are there passages anywhere in the Bible that show that God designated individuals or nations before the foundation of the world? As not being a part of the elect.

Pete Alwinson:
Well, yeah.

Steve Brown:
There are.

Pete Alwinson:
There are. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a, that’s a in-depth question. how do you want to take it?

Steve Brown:
Well, I think you can go read Romans 9 and that’ll, that’ll finish it. I mean, you can, but you can bring up the passages that you bring up.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And what you’re asking is, how do you explain that? And the answer is, and it’s a very good answer. Is, I have not, I don’t have any idea.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
When the infinite communicates to the finite, he’s got to say things. I mean, there is no way we can understand. We just can’t understand the infinite mind.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
And so, and so as you read passages of scripture and the people who wrote those down under the inspiration of God’s spirit knew exactly.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
I mean, they had the same questions we have.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
Are you sure God, this is what you’re saying, because it seems to contradict.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
We know that it doesn’t contradict.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right. And I think one thing that is good, we can point out about John 3:16. Is that when God says for when it says, therefore God so loved the world, he is making a major statement, a major ethnic statement, of I didn’t just call Jews. He is saying, I have people in every tribe, nation, and tongue.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
And so that’s an important way to understand John 3:16. Not necessarily every individual person, because when you go to Romans 9:10-11, you see it very clearly.

Steve Brown:
And yeah, you really do, but you also see other passages, it is not his will that any should perish.

Pete Alwinson:
I know.

Steve Brown:
And you’ve got another things, where the gospel is presented with the presumption of freedom and responsibility.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
So listen, we’re dealing with issues that are way beyond the finite mind. And we fight about them. You know, you get reformed people who get out there gun and say, no he picks them for his own reason. If it’s because your hair is parted wrong, that’s his business. You don’t get a vote. And there are others that say, wait you can’t, that makes, that sounds like a child abuser.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Well, God, isn’t a child abuser.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
His love is never violated. That’s his definition. Justice is important. Put it into the mix.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And, you’ve got a very, very difficult thing to understand.

Pete Alwinson:
So you and I are reformed. And so we could say to our reformed brethren. Be cool, you know. Right?

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Right.

Pete Alwinson:
Come on. Don’t be so mean, smile a little bit. Let grace energize you. And, and when you talk with somebody about this subject, don’t be glad if you, if you’re crushing them, don’t do that. Just tell them what you think, but say it with a smile. And say, you know, God is bigger than us.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
And have a little a warmth as you talk it.

Steve Brown:
You know what my late mentor Fred Smith, and I’ve heard him say it a thousand times and I miss him a lot and you’ve heard me quote him,

Pete Alwinson:
Oh yeah.

Steve Brown:
but he said,

The essence of Christian maturity is to have a high tolerance for ambiguity.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And I agree with that.

Pete Alwinson:
I think so. I loved Fred too. He said some good things to me as well.

Steve Brown:
Uh, in the current climate, how does one love the sinner, but not come off like we are condoning the sin.? No, we don’t have time to answer it.

Pete Alwinson:
Okay. Yeah. It’s getting toward the end. Let’s deal with that next time. Right?

Steve Brown:
Okay. We’ll make that the first question. And now we still have 30 seconds. Do you want to sing, have a hymn sing?

Pete Alwinson:
That would be, nobody would ever come back.

Steve Brown:
But we, but we will. How do you do it? How do you love a sinner, but don’t do a wink wink go ahead then, I condone the sin. You might be surprised at the answer to that. We’ve got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.