Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2613
“And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God.” Matthew 4:3.
IN speaking upon the temptation of our Lord, I first want to say a few words that ought always to be remembered by those who are tempted, lest they encounter unnecessary sorrow. And to begin with, I remark that there is no sin in being tempted. Even when our first parents were in their perfect state, they were liable to temptation. The serpent came and beguiled them. It was not their fault that they were tempted—their sin was that they yielded to the temptation. We know that our blessed Lord was personally without the slightest taint of sin—“holy, harmless, undefiled”—yet He was tempted by Satan, himself, the prince and leader of all tempters, and He was tempted to what would have been the worst of sins. Still, there was no blame attached to Him on that account, for He did not yield to the assaults of the Evil One. So, dear Friends, should you be tempted while you are about your lawful calling, or when you are in the House of God, distinctly engaged in His service and worship, do not be surprised! Who are you that you should escape temptation when your Lord had to endure it? Do not be cast down by the fact of your being tempted, as though it were, in itself, a sin. The guilt lies with him who tempts—not with the tempted one until he yields to the temptation. Let that always be remembered.
And remember, next, that temptation does not necessitate sinning. It did not in the case of our Lord, for He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” And that which was possible of Him, in His life on earth, can also be possible of you by Him with whom all things are possible! A man need not fall into avarice because he is tempted to cov-etousness. A man need not become unchaste because he is tempted to lewdness. Remember the case of Joseph—he was none the less pure because he was so foully tempted. A man need not be false to his convictions because someone tries to bribe him to be so—rather, he may prove the honesty and uprightness of his heart by recoiling from the very touch of the briber. He who is tempted need not, therefore, sin, for God, who permits the temptation to come will, with the temptation, make a way of escape for him that he may be able to bear it. A man may walk in the midst of a furnace of temptation, yet not even the smell of fire shall be upon him. He may be “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” and kept as well amid the most furious temptations as if he lived in a region that was most helpful to his Graces. A child of God may be specially, peculiarly, singularly and emphatically tempted, and yet he may be preserved from sin. In the case before us, we see that our Lord was not only tempted, but that He was tempted by Satan, by him who has the greatest power and the most cunning sleight of hand of all tempters and, though the arch-tempter put before Him the subtlest of temptations, yet He did not yield in any respect whatever. So may you, dear Friend, pass unharmed, as it were, between the very jaws of Hell, preserved and upheld by the Sovereign, Omnipotent Grace of God!
Note, yet again, that it may be necessary for you to be tempted. It evidently was so in the case of our Lord, for He did not fall into temptation through unwatchfulness. He did not go into temptation presumptuously, but we read of Him, that He was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,” so that He was in His right place—He was in the path of duty even when He had to go through this, His great threefold trial in the desert. It was necessary that it should be so with Him that He might be made, in all points, like unto His brethren, that He might have full sympathy with us in all our temptations and that He might make His life-work complete in every respect.
Temptation may be necessary for us for the purpose of testing and trying us. We read, in the Book of Genesis, “It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (or, try) Abraham.” That is, God testedhim, put his faith to a very severe test. There are no champions in God’s army who are mere fair-weather soldiers. They must all endure hardships and their valor must be tried and proved. God sends none of His ships to sea without having first tested them—and when their seaworthiness is proved, then they may go on their long voyages. You, tried Believer, are to be tested, that the great Angel of the Covenant may say to you, as He said to the father of the faithful, “Now I know that you fear God.” God already knows this through His Omniscience, but He would know it practically by testing us and it is, therefore, necessary that we should be tempted in order that we may be tested. Temptation may also be necessary to us for our spiritual growth. Muscles are not developed except by exercise and if we were to be, spiritually, put under a glass case, and never suffered to endure temptation, we would become dwarfed and stunted—and some of our virtues would never be developed at all. Where would our patience be if there were no suffering to test it? Where would be the Grace of forgiveness if we never had to suffer injury from our fellows? It is for our growth in Divine Grace that the stormy winds of temptation are let loose upon us, that, like a stalwart oak, we may take firm root-hold. By this stern experience, Christian men grow “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” They sit loose to the world and they take a firmer grip on the invisible things of God as they are tried and tempted by Satan.