TEMPTATION

TEMPTATION

"One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."—Hebrews 4:15

 

 

In this text certain words are italicized. They have been added for the sake of exposition. I propose to read, translating it quite literally, "In all, tempted after the likeness, apart from sin." The incompleteness of the words is at once recognized, and we are com­pelled, while considering them separately, to remember their vital connection with the state­ment immediately preceding them. "We have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but in all, tempted after the likeness, apart from sin." After declaring the sympathy of the High Priest Who has entered into the Holy Place, having passed through the heavens, the writer affirms that sympathy to be based upon the fact that He was "in all"—that is, in all our weaknesses,—tempted "after the likeness"—in the same way—that is, after the same pattern, and yet with a radical difference, "apart from sin." Our text, therefore, suggests to us the identity of Jesus with us in our temptation—"tempted in all, after the likeness"; and His separation from us in that self-same temptation—"apart from sin."

Temptation is a common experience of man. The Christian man is more keenly conscious of its power than the man of the world. It often happens that in the experience of the soul newly yielded to Christ this fact would cause great perplexity; and it may be well, by way of introduction, to say one or two words concerning it. Why is it, the young Christian, especially, often asks, that since I yielded my life to Christ I have been more tempted than ever? The explanation always lies in the very fact of that surrender. Directly the human soul ranges itself on the side of Christ, it becomes peculiarly the object of enmity on the part of Satan and his emissaries. The devil is forever busy attempting to spoil God's fairest work, and to prevent the perfecting of the life re­ceived in the mystery of the new birth.

Another reason arises out of the very nature of the Christian life. With the new life there has come a new consciousness of evil, and a new sensitiveness in its presence. Temptation which came yesterday, but was hardly appre­ciated, comes again today, and is felt in all its force. It is important to remember this. The holier a man is, the more acutely conscious he is of temptation. The stronger a man is in all his moral fiber, the more does temptation appeal to him. It is not the weak man who feels the real force of temptation, for he yields utterly resistless to it. It is not the impure man who suffers under temptation, for his moral fibers are no longer sensitive, and the sugges­tion of evil brings no pain. But the man in whom there has begun to move and thrill the pure, strong life of the Christ, the man whose spirit is dominated by the Holy Spirit, he it is who feels the full force and pain of temptation. That thing was temptation to me yesterday, before I had met the Christ; but there was no pain in it, no strain, no tug, only a willing yielding. But when I yielded myself to Him, a new force came into my life, ennobling and purifying, and when temptation comes there is now re­sistance; my consciousness of it is keener, not only because the enemy is more earnest in his attack, but because my sensibility is greater. Let me say to the young child of God who is troubled by temptation, Take heart. Be of good courage. The man held fast in the grip of evil knows nothing of the pain of tempta­tion. Take heart, and know that your sensi­tiveness to temptation is sure evidence of the new life, the new purity and power working dynamically through your personality.

This problem of temptation is constantly re­curring. While much has been spoken and written concerning it, it is always, I think, of value to spend some time in facing the fact of its place and value in life. This cannot be bet­ter done than by careful study of the tempta­tion of Jesus Christ, as the story is told in the Gospels, the fact of which is referred to by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews.

In that wilderness experience of Jesus there is first of all revealed to us quite incidentally, and yet with perfect clearness, the truth con­cerning the actual nature of man. Stripped of all outside stimuluses, the Man of Nazareth is seen in stern conflict with temptation, and in the sim­plicity of the situation I see the Man in all the boldness and beauty of His essential manhood. In the next place, the spheres of our tempta­tion are defined, for there are no avenues along which the enemy can possibly approach human personality except those revealed in the wilder­ness. He may vary the method of his coming. He may vary the day of his approach. He may come with a thousand different and differing stratagems. But the only ways in which he can finally storm the fortress are here declared. Then also the method of temptation is re­vealed. In each separate approach of the enemy the same underlying principle is dis­coverable. Finally, the method of victory is revealed.

First, then, in this story we have the revela­tion of human personality. Man is seen for what he really is. The order of the tempta­tion indicates a line of development. The first temptation came through the physical, "Com­mand that these stones become bread." The second temptation was directed against the spiritual, "If thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down." Depend upon God. Trust Him. The third temptation made its appeal through the vocational, Behold the kingdoms of the world for which Thou hast come. Give me one moment's worship, and I will give Thee all Thy kingdoms.

Strenuously attempting to banish from our thinking the fact of temptation, let us now look at the Person presented to us. Man is in Him revealed as having a physical basis, as being spiritual in essence, and as existing for a specific purpose. Spiritual essence, a material basis, and an appointed work.* This is the whole story of human life. Every human being has, as had this Man of Nazareth, a physical nature. The body is an instrument, "fearfully and wonderfully made," at once frail and enduring. Among all the inventions of science, nothing from any standpoint can compare with the human body; no machine ever conceived but has been patterned in some detail of its mechanism upon it, and yet by it is absolutely excelled. So delicate is it in its ad­justment that "we fade as a leaf," and pass away with the wind. But that is only half the story. We are inclined to compare the strength of the oak which has weathered the storms of a thousand years or more, with the weakness of the men who have sojourned under its shadow and died. I tell you that in the mil­lennium which has passed over the head of the oak no storm has ever broken upon it equal to the storm that convulses a man in the hour of mental agony.

Then behind the physical, and superior to it, is man himself, the spiritual entity; man, using the eye of his body to see, the ear to hear, and the hand to feel. The spiritual fact is the highest fact. Here in the wilderness I see a Man Who demonstrates in every onslaught of evil, the supremacy of the spiritual.

Again, the final fact is not that this being is created, but that he is created for purpose—in a word, that his whole raison d'etre is accom­plishment.

First, then, if I would understand aright my life in all its complexity of being, I must bring it back to, and place it beside, that of the Man of Nazareth; and there is no place in all His story where it seems to me I see more clearly and marvelously what humanity is than in that wilderness. The storm is sweeping over Him. The light is clear about Him. No lov­ing voices break the silence. None but the one master foe is attacking Him. There in the rough, rugged, awful, lonely hour of tempta­tion I see Him, and there I see myself in my essential nature. I am spirit, existing within a temple (house) of flesh, and moving in a material universe; and I am, in order that I may achieve that which God has appointed.**

In the second place this wilderness expe­rience declares to us the spheres of temptation. The first testing is in the physical realm, and is directed toward the spoiling of the instrument in its service of the spirit. "If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be­come bread." How innocent it looks. How natural it seems. Yet it is an attempt to ruin man, and prevent his final realization of pur­pose by marring him through his material necessities.

Next the foe attempts to corrupt the spirit. Man's greatness is demonstrated by his privi­leges. He is the special object of God's love and protecting care. He is permitted fellow­ship with the Most High. The enemy tempted Him to trespass on His privileges, to presume on His greatness, and to trade on the Divine favor for the satisfaction of His spiritual pride and ambition. "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down." Experiment upon Thy relationship. So the enemy seeks to draw man away from God, and make him act, as it would seem, with great religiousness, and yet, in fact, with blasphemous self-will.

The enemy has still another mode of attack, and his final attempt is to spoil the realization of purpose. Thou hast come for kingdoms. Take them at my hand. Take them as my gift.

In no case does the enemy suggest the aban­donment of Divine intention. Bread? Every man has a right to bread. Trust in God? Every man should trust in God. Possess the kingdoms? Every man ought to possess his kingdoms. They are all perfectly right sug­gestions. We are not dealing with the method. I simply ask you to notice the avenues. Satan can reach man through the gratification of his physical being, through the corruption of his spiritual nature, and through the pollution of his methods in realizing his vocation.* All temptations are exhausted in this revelation. If it be possible for man to resist in the physi­cal, and spiritual, and vocational, there is no temptation left.* The devil has no other avenue of approach, no other method than these of breaking in upon human personality, and spoil­ing it.

Now let us pass to the third line I sug­gested: the method of temptation, as revealed in this wilderness story. It suggests the gain­ing of a right end by improper means.* The enemy dare not take away from man the only vision strong enough to make him put forth effort. He must leave the goal in view. The pathway he suggests appears to go toward the goal, but never reaches it. Here is the subtlety of temptation: a proper thing to be gained by improper methods. It is never done. No man ever reaches the goal except along the straight path thereto. Deviation is ultimate failure.*

"Command that these stones become bread." It is as though the devil said: You have been placed in circumstances of hunger. This for the moment is the arrangement of God for You. Break through it. You are hungry. It is perfectly right to be hungry, and it is per­fectly right to make bread when God has not made it for You. It is perfectly right to sat­isfy a proper craving in Your life, even though You must act independently of law. Then, "It is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee." Find out if that is true. Put God to the test. The moment you put God to the test by experiment, you prove, not that you trust Him, but that you do not trust Him. "Cast Thyself down." Do something heroic, splendid, great, spectacular. Reach the end of infinite repose upon the bosom of God, but reach the end by adventuring something. No, let Jesus name it: "By tempting the Lord thy God." Finally, Thou hast come for the king­doms of the world. I do not suggest that Thou should give up the hope of possession, that Thou should turn Thy face from Thy goal. But see, the way marked out for Thee is one of suffering and hurt. Here is an easy method. One bending of the knee to me, and all the kingdoms are Thine. Thou hast come for kingdoms. I offer Thee what Thou hast come for, but by a short cut.*

This is always the method of temptation. Where have you felt its force, say, this last week? Let the answer to that question be given in your own heart. But I declare this thing solemnly. You have felt the force of temptation through a desire which is right in itself, and the temptation has consisted in the suggestion that you should answer the right desire in the wrong way.* That is the whole method of temptation. Bread there is the symbol of everything that answers the crav­ing of the physical life. Whatever this flesh of mine desires, it ought to have, providing its satisfaction is in God's way. There is no essen­tial power of my manhood that it profits me to crush, providing I can exercise it accord­ing to the provision and government of God. Evil is forever saying, here is a natural demand of your life. You want compan­ionship, pleasure, amusement. Get it, get it anyhow. God has not given it to you, take it. That is the devil's suggestion. Know it for his whenever you hear it. He may not come to you as he came in medieval times, according to the pictures of the great masters, with hoofs and horns. Marie Corelli was nearer the truth when she depicted his last appearance, in her book, on the threshold of the House of Commons.** There is much phi­losophy in the suggestion. He will come to you in a thousand ways. He will come with siren voice and cultured demeanor, with in­finite respectability of appearance. But if he tells you to answer the call of your nature at any cost, even though you are put where you cannot answer it according to the will of God, then know that voice for the voice of evil. No matter how he may be garbed, it is the devil. James Garfield said, "Men ought to dare to look the devil in the face and name him devil." We are a little afraid of talking of him today. But he is with us. We are perpetually talking of the lower instincts of our nature. There are no low instincts of your nature if you are a man. That which is low in your nature is the devil's presence there, prompting the misuse of the high instinct. That is temptation, which is for evermore saying, Take this thing anyhow, if you cannot get it as you ought.

Again the temptation comes through man's spiritual prestige. Demonstrate your consciousness of God's favor. Tempt God. Be pre­eminently religious. Do some great thing to manifest your trust. Answer that deep crav­ing of your life by some external manifestation. That is the voice of the devil.

Or, again, with regard to purpose in life. I have no sympathy, no patience with those who say the young should not be ambitious. They ought to dream dreams, and see visions, and climb mountains, and fight battles, and strive for success. God so made them. But the enemy comes and says: See that is a rough and rugged road to the temple of fame. That is a hard and difficult hill. You will be long years toiling up it. Come with me, and I will show you a short cut. Know that voice for the devil's own. He is the prime inventor and patentee of short cuts.* The man who would be rich by a short cut is devil-led, find him where you will. The man who would get his kingdom by half a moment's homage to some whispered evil suggestion of unrighteousness is devil-led. That is temptation, and its princi­ple of appeal is always the same, the attain­ing of a right end by a wrong method.

Let us take the last of these thoughts. I pray you notice how wonderfully this wilder­ness story reveals the method of victory. How did this Man win when He was tempted? I am honestly more anxious that you shall see this last thing than anything else, because, though sublime, it is simple, and if we can get hold of this we can win. The appeal to the physical was withstood by an assertion that the care for the material life alone is a denial of the essential truth concerning man, and the spoiling of man's nature.

"Command that these stones become bread." That is the devil's estimate that man's sole need is bread. But listen to the answer, "Man shall not live by bread alone." When you are tempted in the realm of the physical, your an­swer is to be that the physical is not the only thing, nor the most important, and the first consideration must be the relationship between the physical and the spiritual.* Man does not live only in the flesh. In his irrationality he may try to. He may answer only the call of the flesh, but in so doing there must inevitably be the degradation of the spiritual. I take my watch in my hand and for five minutes look at its face, and on every moment is the impress of eternity. There stands that loaf of bread. I take it in my hunger when I ought not to have it. What have I done? Taken a loaf of bread? No! Violated the law of the universe, flung myself in all my unutterable madness crossways of the rhythmic march of God. "Man shall not live by bread alone." I may have my half-hour's physical satisfaction contrary to law, but the infinite law enwraps me, fastens me, and takes hold upon me. I cannot escape. If I can remember that, I shall not be likely to find answer to the call of the flesh, without asking how it will affect the spiritual, the eternal, the undying.*

When the enemy proceeded further, and made his attack upon the spiritual, how then did this Man win? The appeal to the spiritual was refused by an assertion of the proper lim­its to the actions and attitudes of a dependent being. Trust God, said the devil. Trust God by experimenting. And the answer came, such trusting is tempting. I can only trust God by trusting Him, and I can only trust Him by obeying Him, and I can only obey Him by waiting for Him.* This is heroism. The sug­gestion of the devil was for heroism. If only you would do some great thing to prove your trust in God. If you could leap out from some height into immensity, relying upon the special exercise of God's providence, you would be heroic. It would be suicide? How can I be heroic, you ask? Stay quietly where you are, where God has put you. Meet every tempta­tion to a false heroism by remembering that trust is no longer trust when it tempts and experiments.* You do not need this truth to be illustrated. You have in your home some­one who trusts you. Would you not know trust was passing away if you found such a one testing your faithfulness? Every time the soul experiments it violates the principles of trust, but never demonstrates them. Jesus said, in effect, I cannot take any action in the spiritual realm apart from under the direction of God's Spirit I cannot tempt Him. Can I not read far more into the words of Jesus? May I not in all reverence say that in His answer He said, I trust Him too well to tempt Him? I trust Him best by not tempting Him.* I can­not tempt the Lord my God. I know Him too well. That is perfect trust. When spiritual temp­tation, far subtler, far more perilous than the physical, comes to you or to me, temptation to experiment^, with God's faithfulness, presuming on His favor, tempting His generosity, let us make answer, The spirit can only live as it follows, and depends, and really trusts.

Finally we come to the appeal to the voca­tional (our purpose here on earth), refused by the assertion that Divine ser­vice can only be rendered in direct loyalty to Divine government. I would ask you to notice very particularly the words our Lord brings together. "It is written, Thou shalt worship"; that is the first thing. "And Him only shalt thou serve"; that is the second. But the two acts are not separate, exclusive, for worship always serves. The enemy said: If You will worship me, I will give You the kingdoms. He did not ask for service, only for worship.* He attempted to separate worship from service.* But, a moment's homage is a lifetime's slavery, and this Man, standing erect in the perfection of His loyalty to God, saw through the half lie to the whole truth and named it. The thing a man worships, he serves.* You cannot pay homage to evil, and then return to the service of God. You must serve evil. If the devil bribed you today to one compromising action, you are his slave. Tomorrow he will insist on your service. By one half-hour's homage you have weakened your moral personality, spoiled your ability to stand erect, and you will serve the master to whom you yielded. Christ says to the arch-enemy, I cannot worship, for that would mean serving. I will worship God and serve Him. So He chose God's way to the Kingdom, even though it was the way of the Cross, and the way of suffering.

In conclusion, let me ask you to notice this fact. In the temptation of Jesus we have seen the testing of absolutely perfect Man. I need not stay to argue that. The sinlessness of Jesus is admitted. I have been looking at the temptation to sin of Him in Whom was no sin. And so we read that He was tempted "apart from sin," meaning not merely that He did not sin by yielding, but that there was no sin in His nature that could answer to tempta­tion; no sin working within Him like a fire and a poison, rendering Him liable to attack. There was no weakening of the moral fiber of Jesus through either inherited or contracted sin. It was a perfect Man Who met tempta­tion in the wilderness.

In a moment you tell me, and rightly, that there in that fact of His sinlessness, is the ultimate difference between Jesus and all other men. You say, is it true that He was tempted in all points like as I am? Did He know my experience of pain and struggle in the presence of evil? The Bible answers, "Tempted in all points like as we, sin apart." Then you say, how does that help me? How does this whole study help me? What is the use of telling me that I am to resist as He resisted, if I cannot begin where He began? For it is true that no man can begin where He began. Account for it as you will; use what terminology you choose; there are within his very personality fires and forces and poisons. Call it tendency to sin, bias to evil, original sin; the fact is there, and Paul expressed it when he said, "The good which I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not; that I practice." (Rom. 7:19)

You ask again, how can I imitate Him?

You cannot imitate Him. We cannot win as He won. We cannot resist temptation as He resisted. Our moral fiber is weakened by our own past sin, for I care to say nothing about tendencies inherited. I come into the place where the devil appeals to my physical life, and try to insist upon its right relation to the spiritual, and I fail while I try. What shall I do?

This great text began by speaking of a High Priest. In that word Priest there is suggest­iveness of other facts in the ministry of Jesus which must be taken into account, which we have already considered in another connection. How am I to resist? Asks a man, looking at me with wild and hungry eyes, as he feels the force of a temptation. Hand yourself over to Jesus Christ in definite surrender. His Holy Spirit will come into your life, and take possession of it, and hold its citadel against the forces of evil. As Christ conquered sin, so the Christ-indwelt man may conquer sin. You have but to put your whole being under the control of Christ that you may receive from Him the Divine life, and realize the Divine strength, knowing that behind your own enfeebled ac­tivity there will operate the matchless and measureless might of God in Christ. No man can resist temptation by imitating Christ. He must be a Christ-indwelt man.

Any man and every man can be Christ-indwelt now if he will. The only way is that he take his life, weakened in its moral fiber by past sin, not strong enough in its own strength to resist, and hand it over to Him.* Those who have read Bunyan's "Holy War" will remember how the citadel of Mansoul is at length pos­sessed by Emanuel, and thus is held against the foe. As in the allegory, so in reality. Let Emanuel occupy your citadel (house), and in the hour of assault hand over the battle to your Lord. Make use of Him, the Indwelling One. Remit to Him the onslaught of the foe. Our text is immediately followed by the exhortation, "Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help in time of need." I am never tired of pointing out that the Greek phrase there translated, "in time of need," is a colloquialism, of which the "nick of time" is the exact equivalent. "That we may have grace to help in 'the nick of time.'" Grace just when and where I need it. Your life is remitted to Jesus. You are attacked by temptation, and at the moment of assault you look to Him, and the grace is there to help in "the nick of time." No postpone­ment of your prayer till Sabbath. No postponement, of your petition until the evening hour of prayer; but there, man, there in the city street with the flaming temptation in front of you, turn to Christ within you, with a cry for help, and the grace will be there in "the nick of time."

We have seen the processes of temptation and the method of victory. We know our weakness, but thank God for One Who met and mastered temptation, "sin apart." He now, by the mystery of His passion and dying; comes into our lives, in us and through us to win as He won in the loneliness of the days long gone by.

May God help us to depend upon Him and Him alone.