Sonship Questioned
(No. 2613)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 12, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 16, 1883.
"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.
It may also be necessary for us to be tempted to increase our
usefulness. He that was never tempted cannot help those who are
tempted! He lacks sympathy because he has never passed through the
fiery trial to which they are exposed. Dear young man, it may be that
you wonder why you have such a stormy inward life. Perhaps God is going
to make you greatly useful as a dispenser of comfort to others. Men
might be Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, without trouble, but you
could not be a Barnabas, a son of consolation, unless you had first
known what it was to be comforted in time of trial. God might use you
to scatter His Seed with a hand that was never wounded, but He could
not use you to bind up the broken in heart unless that hand had been
rendered tender and sensitive by trial. Your present experience, though
painful, is a necessary preparation for something which will give you
tenfold joy–so you may endure the present trial even with cheerfulness
because of the blessed result that will come from it!
Beside that, Brothers and Sisters, we must be tempted, or else we
cannot be victorious. The rule of the Kingdom is– no battles, no
crowns; no conflicts, no conquests! We must stand foot to foot in
deadly combat with the archenemy of souls or else we can never have a
memorial pillar set up by the wayside, like that one of which Mr.
Bunyan speaks, where Christian met Apollyon and it was recorded of
him–
"The man so bravely played the man, He made the fiend to fly– Of which
a monument I stand, The same to testify."
The great reason why God's children are tempted is for God's Glory,
for, when they stand fast and defeat the foe, then the strong man is
overcome by a stronger and then He that is the strongest of all–the
mighty Son of God–gets fresh crowns upon His head as, one after the
other, the weakest among His people put to rout the great adversary.
There is a necessity, then, that you should, at times, be "in heaviness
through manifold temptations" and, though you may pray not to be led
into temptation and are bound to do so, yet sometimes it may be
necessary that, like your Lord, you should be brought into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Note, once more, that solitude will not prevent temptation. "Oh," said
a young man, "I think that I must give up my job, for it involves me in
so many temptations." "Ah," said a Christian woman, "I wish that I
could get right away into some sisterhood where I should have no
temptations." Yes, and if you did, as some foolish women have done, you
would have your temptations greatly increased! I am afraid that,
sometimes, solitude is a helpto temptations and that Christian people
who are much tormented by Satan would do well to mix more often with
other Believers, and tell out their sorrows. A good burst of tears and
a narration of your grief to a sympathetic friend may be the best
possible way for you to find relief from your sorrows. Do not be so
shut up within yourself as to refuse to tell of the heartache that is
wearing into your very soul–seek help from some Christian Brother or
Sister, for we are bid to bear one another's burdens, and
1 trust we are not slow to do so. Having thus introduced the general
subject of temptation at rather unusual length, I want, now, to speak
with some brevity, but to practical purpose concerning the temptation
of our LORD.
The text I have taken shows that Satan is apt at writing prefaces. He
is cunning and crafty, if not wise. He does not come to the Savior and
say at once, "Command that these stones be made bread," but he begins
thus, "If You are the Son of God." This is his old plan of insinuating
doubts, by which Eve was vanquished in the Garden of Eden! And this is
the sharp end of the wedge with which he thought to separate the Son of
God from His Father. And notice, too, that Satan knows how to fire a
double-shotted gun, for, while he began by insinuating doubt–"If You
are the Son of God"–he linked it with rebellion–"Command that these
stones be made bread." Thus there were two temptations at the same
moment and, sometimes, our mind is greatly perplexed and our heart is
wounded by two attacks at one time, or one following very closely upon
the heels of the other. It is a part of Satan's tactics to be quick
with his temptations so that we scarcely recover from one blow before
he deals another–and then another–that, if possible, he may drive us
out of our wits and overcome us by his cunning.
I. Let us look closely into this double temptation with which he
attacked the Savior. "If You are the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread." And notice, first, that THE TEMPTER BEGINS BY
ASSAILING THE
SAVIOR WITH AN, "IF."
Note that he does not begin with a point-blank denial, saying, "You are
not the Son of God," but he suggests a doubt upon the point–"IYou are
the Son of God." At the present time there is a spirit of infidelity
creeping over the Christian Church and it puzzles and perplexes me to
lay hold of it because of its very vagueness. Ministers and others of
the modern-thought school do not positively assert that the Scriptures
are not Inspired, but they have a theory of inspiration which
practically comes to that conclusion. They do not actually say that
Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, but they try to explain away His
Divinity in such a fashion that they might just as well deny it at
once. As for the Fall–oh, of course, there was a fall, but it was a
matter of very small importance and the idea that the serpent tempted
Eve is held up to positive ridicule as a myth, an ancient fable! The
depravity of the human heart is admitted in words, but it is really
denied when you come to see what those words actually mean. There is a
new theology, lately sprung up, which has taken every pea out of the
pod and every kernel out of the shell–and its advocates present us
with the empty shucks and shells and say, "Do not quarrel with us. We
are all brothers and there is very little difference between what we
hold and what you teach, only we are not so dogmatic and positive as
you are." Yet, all the while, they are throwing doubts upon that which
is our very life! And we cannot help feeling that they have learned the
devil's way of dealing with the Truth of God–"If, if, if."
That is just how Satan comes to each Believer. He will not positively
say, "You are not a child of God," but he tries to inject a doubt into
our minds, "fyou are a child of God." He will not declare that Christ's
people will certainly perish, but he asks, "Suppose they should?"
Often, when I have heard a great many suppositions, I have felt more
indignation at them than I have ever felt at a point-blank denial.
Somebody once said to Mr. Gough, "Now, Mr. Gough, suppose you were in a
beer parlor." Mr. Gough said, "I will not allow you to suppose anything
of the kind! With my convictions about the drink traffic, I will not
have you suppose such a thing!" And I do not know what better answer he
could have given. Yet people come to us with their supposing and
insinuations–and we feel as indignant as Mr. Gough did. It is the
devil's plan to assail with an, "if," and we have met with many who
have adopted his tactics. One says, "I am not an infidel. I am not a
freethinker! I am practically the same as you are. I hold the same
views, I subscribe to the same creed, I am in the same Union and
Association!" Yet, as we go on talking with him, he undermines the
whole thing with some dreadful, dreary, "if," concerning the faith
which we hold dear.
Notice, next, that the devil grafts his, "if," upon a holy thing. He
says, "If You are the Son of God." This is the very title that had been
applied to Christ by His Father at His Baptism–"This is My beloved
Son." Yet Satan attacks it by trying to graft an, "if," on it. Thus
does the devil still seek to do with every precious Truth of God and we
must be always on the watch against him as those who are not ignorant
of his devices. What a blessed stock is that glorious Doctrine of the
Adoption of Believers into God's family, but, with an, "if," grafted
upon it, what sour grapes it bears! It is with great joy we sing–
"Behold what wondrous Grace The Father has bestowed On sinners of a
mortal race, To call them sons of God!"
But put an, "if," on it, and then, ah, me! All the joy and all the
wonder vanish at once.
Moreover, on this occasion, Satan put an, "if," upon a plain utterance
of God. The Father had said, "This is My beloved Son," yet this
impudent fiend dares, in the face of God's Only-Begotten, to quote that
title with an, "if," added to it. I am never afraid of what any text of
Scripture may teach, but I am often afraid of the gloss that has been
put on a text and this Satanic glossing is the most mischievous of all
mischief! It matters not how plainly any Truth may be revealed in the
Scriptures, nor how clear is the language in which it is stated, so
that we can see that it is certainly taught to us by God, but the devil
will come and put an, "if," on it. I suppose that some of us who have
been Christians for many years have had to fight over every Doctrine in
the Word of God. There is scarcely one Truth of God I believe for which
I have not had to contend in my own soul. David said that he rejoiced
over God's Word "as one that finds great spoil." Now, spoil is found
after a battle, and God's Truth is, to most of His people, a thing for
which they have had to fight with the powers of darkness and they have
had to take the Doctrine from the enemy by main force through the aid
of the Holy Spirit. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?" No, that
which has been gained in battle by such soul-conflict as we have had
shall be held fast till we die! Yet, while we say this, we know that
Satan has the impertinence to come and write over many of the great
Truths of Scripture his ugly, insinuating, "if."
Yes, and not only does he put an, "if," on Scripture, but he puts an,
"if," also on past manifestations. You enjoyed, some time ago, a
blessed visit from God. You thought that you never could forget it–you
said that you would never doubt again. The sacred Dove rested upon you
and you were full of holy calm. The voice and witness of the Spirit
were within you and you knew that you were a child of God and that you
lived in Jehovah's love. But the devil will come and say to you, "All
that was fancy and excitement! There was nothing in it." Or if he is
not so positive, he questions it with an, "if." With his great black
pen, he scrawls, "if," right across all our sweet experiences, all the
tops of Tabor–all the communion tables where we have met our Lord, all
the places of secret retirement where our soul has been made like the
chariots of Amminadib! And then, unless our Lord comes to our help, we
lose the comfort of these past manifestations.
In this case, the devil puts an, "if" across nearly the whole of
Christ's life. Our Lord had already had 30 years of retirement and
preparation for His public ministry. I do not know whether Satan had
tempted Him while He was in His obscurity, living with His father and
mother in quiet. One would think that after 30 years of holy
retirement, there must be a certainty of His being the Son of God, yet
Satan has a bronze forehead and he says, "if," even to Him after all
that! Some of us have been more than 30 years in God's ways. Some,
perhaps, for 50 years have enjoyed the Lord's Presence and blessing,
yet Satan will come and say, "If–if you are a child of God." Yes, and
he has whispered that insinuation in the ears of dying saints whose
faces have begun to glow with the Glory to be revealed! He has
persecuted them with his cruel, "ifs," even to the last moment! Do not
be astonished at it, Beloved, for our Lord Jesus Christ had no sin in
Him– He had never done anything that could have made His sonship
questionable, and yet, with a perfectly pure and holy and consecrated
life before Him, this arch-enemy dares to sneer at it and to spit upon
it one of his abominable, "ifs." "If You are the Son of God." There was
our Divine Master, fully assured that He was the Son of God. His
unerring consciousness told Him that He was so. He knew it, He was sure
of it, as sure of it as He was of His own existence–and yet the fiend
dared to say to Him, "If You are the Son of God." And you, Beloved, may
feel the pulsing of the heavenly life–your heart may beat high with
immortality–yet the hiss of the old serpent may be heard in your
spirit, "If you are a child of God." That is his usual mode of attack,
so be on your guard against it!
II. But, now, secondly, notice that THE TEMPTER AIMS THE, "IF," AT A
VERY VITAL PLACE. "If You are the Son of God."
In like manner, with his poisoned arrow of an, "if," he will attack a
child of God, sometimes, with doubts as to whether Christ is God. "If
He is the Son of God." Oh, but that Doctrine of the Godhead of our
Savior is a thing which we must be prepared to defend even with our
life, if necessary–we can never give up that great Truth of God! It
has been assailed all through the history of the Christian Church. The
devil has seemed to say to his fiendish archers, "Fight neither with
small nor great, save only with the King of Israel." If he can get men
to deny the Godhead of Christ, he knows that the chief Truth of God is
assailed. If that were gone, there would be nothing left that would be
worth having!
When he has not assailed the Godhead of Christ, he has often attacked
our sonship. "Oh," he says, "are you a child of God? You, with all your
imperfections and infirmities–are you a child of God?" And he puts it
to you, over and over again, as a matter of question, until, at last,
you are driven almost out of your wits. This questioning of Satan is
always with an evil intention. He knows that he is assailing us in a
very vital place–he is attacking our faith–and faith is vital to a
Christian. If faith should fail us, then our life has failed us.
He also, by this means, attacks our childlike spirit, for, if we are
not children of God, why should we submit to His will? Why should we
not kick and struggle against our daily trials? If we are childlike, we
trust, we obey, we believe, we endure, we persevere–but Satan puts an,
"if," on all that and so he tries to disarm us.
Moreover, he is here aiming at our Father's honor, for he as much as
says, "Is He your Father? If He is your Father, why does He allow you
to be tried as you are? Why are you so poor? Why are you so ill? Why
are you so depressed in spirit? He certainly does not act towards you
as if He were your Father." Thus the devil tries to take from us all
our comfort and all our delight, for if God is not the Father of us who
believe, then are we orphans, indeed! We are strangers in this land and
we have no other land to go to if God is not our Father and Heaven is
not our home. The world has rejected us and if God does not acknowledge
us, we are, of all men, most miserable. So, Satan attacks us with that,
"if," in the most tender place where he can most wound us. If he could
succeed in his assault, he would, indeed, leave us naked, poor and
miserable. He would prevent our prayers, destroy our patience and
hinder us in every respect. And he does this that he may then make room
in our hearts for any other form of temptation that he likes. If you
are not a child of God and God will not take care of you, then
something whispers to you, "Take care of yourself. Rob your fellow men.
Do a dishonest thing, do something or other by which you can escape
from your present difficulty." This is what Satan is aiming
at–therefore, my Brothers and Sisters, I earnestly entreat you to look
well to this vulnerable part–your faith–your firm conviction of your
sonship in relation to the Most High.
III. Thirdly, SATAN SUPPORTS HIS, "IF," WITH OUR CIRCUMSTANCES.
I will dwell only a minute or two upon this point. I think that the
devil seemed to say to Christ, as he looked round the desert and saw
that there was not a disciple or friend or anybody about–no guards to
take care of this Prince of the blood–" You, the Son of God, alone,
deserted, forsaken, in a wilderness? You, the Son of God?"
And, sometimes, he has come upon us when we have been all alone. We
have looked and there was no man to help us. We had to war a warfare
all by ourselves. Friends were all gone–some were dead, others had
proved false–and then he said, "You, a child of God? While He would
have given His angels charge concerning you if you had been one of His
children, He would not have left you all alone like this."
And then Satan, with a glance of his cruel eyes all around us, has
seemed to say, " You are in a desert There is nothing but sand and
stones–no food to eat, no water to drink, no shrubs or trees to
shelter you. This is a pretty place for a child of God! Why, surely, if
you had been one of His children, you would have been in a paradise!
Was not that where God put Adam? How can you be a child of God and be
in a desert?" Has he ever said something like this to you, Beloved?
"You have had trials all around you. Losses, crosses, bereavements,
afflictions, poverty–nothing but troubles and nobody to help you out
of them." And you have echoed the devil's words, "Alone and in a
desert!" And then the question has come, "Can I really be a child of
God?"
Our Lord was also with the wildbeastsand I have no doubt that Satan
pointed them out to Him, and said, " You, the Son of God, along with
lions and bears and leopards and wolves?" So, sometimes, you have gone
out into what has been a desert to you and all day long you have been
among wild beasts. When you have been at work, you have not heard a
word to comfort or cheer you–you have been surrounded by blasphemers
and filthy talkers. You have said, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in
Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar." The misery of your
surroundings has gone right home to your heart and then the devil has
said, "You, a child of God, and put into such a position as this?"
Then, last of all, we read that Jesus hungered. And, after 40 days
fasting, well He might–and hunger is a hard thing to overcome. It
bites and gnaws most terribly. It was then that the devil said to Him,
"If you are the Son of God," and threw a sardonic sneer into it–"a
hungeringSon of God!" So, you see, Satan backs up his insinuations by
appealing to the circumstances in which we are found. And I will put it
to you now, whether there is anybody here–even the very bravest of
us–who could endure such temptation as this!
Suppose you had to go out of that door, tonight, with ragged garments
on you, without a single penny in your pocket, without a solitary
friend left and no place where you could lay your head? Do you not
think that it is very likely that you would begin to be afraid that,
after all, you were not a child of God? Supposing that you had eaten
nothing all this day, and for many days before, and you were faint and
weary, and no man gave you anything–if the devil said to you, then,
"If you are a child of God," I am afraid that you would say, "Ah,
Satan, now that it has come to this pass, I am afraid that I am not!"
Or I will put it in another way. If there should knock at your door,
tonight, a man without shoes on his feet, one who had nowhere to sleep,
and was all in rage, and he told you that he had not broken his fast
for days, would you believe that he was one of your Brothers in Christ,
and that he was a child of God? Well, perhaps, you might, but I know a
good many who would not–they would say, "No, no, no! You are an
impostor and if you do not leave, I will call in a policeman." Do you
see, then, what pith and force there is in the temptation, when,
finding the Savior without a place to lay His head, hungering, alone,
with the wild beasts and in a wilderness, the devil comes to Him, and
says, "Are you, indeed, the Son of God?" It was only the true Son of
God who could answer him with confidence when in such a plight as that!
IV. To close my discourse, let me remind you that IF THE TEMPTER CAN BE
OVERCOME, IT WILL BE EXCEEDINGLY HELPFUL TO US ALL THE REST OF OUR
LIFE.
For, first, note that, if an, "if," about our being a child of God
comes from the devil, it is as good as a certificate stating we
are!"Oh," you say, "how is that?" Why, the devil never puts an, "if,"
to anything that is not true! Whenever he says, "if," to a thing, we
may be sure that it is true! If he comes along and finds a text of
Scripture, and says, "If it is true," that is the best homage which he
can pay to it by trying to undermine it! I believe that your sonship is
true when the devil tells you that it is not! If you were not a child
of God, the devil would not be likely to utter an, "if," about it. I
hope I am not, in any sense, a servant of the devil, and whenever I see
anyone in my congregation who is puffed up with carnal conceit and who
thinks that he is a child of God, I say to myself, "I will try to
preach, next Sunday, in such a way as to make him question whether he
is or is not a Christian, for he ought most seriously to question it."
It is true, as Cowper says–
"He that never doubted of his state,
He may perhaps–perhaps he may–too late."
It is no part of the devil's work to make the self-deceived and
hypocrites question themselves–he rather lulls them into deeper
slumber–but when he does suggest to any man the doubt, "If you are a
child of God," you may depend upon it that the man is a child of God,
or else the devil would never think it worth his while to raise a
question about it! So you may take Satan's insinuation for a
certificate of your sonship!
When you are once able to battle with his evil suggestion, you may say,
"If I were Satan's own, he would not worry me. If I belonged to him, he
would try to make me content in his service–and these doubts and
fears, these questions, this self-examination, these great searching of
heart are all evidences that I have escaped from the talons of the old
dragon and that he worries me because he cannot devour me." So we get a
confirmation of our sonship even from Satan, himself!
Thus, dear Fiends, if you once thoroughly overcome that "if," it is
very likely that it will not occur to you again for many a day, for, as
far as I know, our blessed Lord had not that, "if," put to Him any more
for years. The devil departed and angels came and ministered to Him,
and He spoke with a holy confidence and joy in His Father's love all
the rest of His life. At the last, when He was in a still worse plight
and His hands were nailed to the Cross, and He was faint with thirst
and near to death, then cruel men stood around Him and repeated the
Satanic insinuation, "If You are the Son of God." Oh, but our blessed
Master must have inwardly smiled as He thought, "You cannot tempt Me
with that, 'if,'–I have been tempted, long ago, by a far greater
adversary than any of you–even by your master and lord, the
arch-fiend, himself! In the wilderness, he said to Me, 'If You are the
Son of God,' and I repulsed him, and turned the edge of his sword upon
himself. And now you have only tried to pierce me with a blunted
weapon–you cannot wound Me as you cry, 'If You are the Son of God.'"
Do you not see, Brothers and Sisters, that a temptation overcome may be
used, the next time, to overcome another one? You may lay up this
conquered temptation, just as David laid up Goliath's sword and, one of
these days, when you come the same way and need a sword, you will say,
"There is none like it! Give it to me." And you will be glad to get the
old sword into your hand again. So, temptations vanquished may be of
service to us even on our dying bed and, as our Master triumphed on the
Cross over a temptation which He had defeated in the desert, so, when
we come to die, we may have peace and joy because of those early trials
in which we were enabled to overcome our great adversary by the blood
of the Lamb.
I have been all this while talking to God's children about the "if."
Yet I fear that I am addressing some to whom the devil will not say,
"if," for he knows, and perhaps your own conscience knows, that you are
not a child of God. O dear Friends, do not deceive yourselves about
this matter! If you are not His children, do not pretend that you are,
but remember that if you are not the children of God, you are children
of the Evil One and heirs of wrath, even as others. Oh, may Infinite
Mercy adopt you into the family of God! And the way that mercy works is
by leading you to trust in Christ Crucified. Then you shall be put
among the children–adopted into the Lord's family–yes, born into it
by a new birth through faith in Jesus Christ! The Lord grant it to
every unconverted one here and grant it now, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 3:13-17; 4:1-11.
Matthew 3:13, 14. Then came Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to
be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, I have need to be
baptized of You, and do You come to me.?Who among us would not have
felt as John did? Shall the servant baptize the Master and such a
Master even his Lord and Savior? But mark the condescension of our
blessed Lord! He would do everything that He wished His people to do
afterwards and, therefore, He would be baptized and set the example
that He would have them all follow.
15. And Jesus answering said unto him, Allow it to be so now: for thus
it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed Him. We are
never to be so modest as to become disobedient to Christ's commands! We
have known some who have allowed their humility to grow alone in the
garden of their heart without the other sweet flowers that should have
sprung up side by side with it–and thus their very humility has
developed into a kind of pride. John was easily persuaded to do what
his feelings, at first, seemed to forbid. "Then he allowed Him."
16, 17. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo, a Voice
from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am wellpleased.
It has also happened unto the servants of Christ, as well as to their
Master, that in keeping the Commandments of God there has been a sweet
attestation borne by the Holy Spirit. I trust that we, too, according
to our measure of sonship, have heard in our hearts the Voice from
Heaven, saying, "This is My beloved son," and that we have experienced
the descending of the dove-like Spirit, bringing us peace of mind and
gentleness of nature.
Matthew 4:1. Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil What a change it seems from the descent of the
Holy Spirit to being led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil! Dear Friends, be especially on the watch after a great spiritual
joy, for it is just then that you may have some terrible temptation!
Perhaps the voice from Heaven is to prepare you to do battle with the
enemy. I have noticed that the Lord has two special seasons of blessing
His people–sometimes, before a great trial, to prepare them for
it–and, at other times, after a great affliction, to remove the
weakness which has been thereby occasioned. Think not that you can come
up out of the waters of Baptism and then live without watchfulness!
Imagine not, because the Spirit has sealed you, and borne witness with
your spirit that you are the Lord's child, that, therefore, you are out
of gunshot of the enemy. Oh, no! At that very time he will be preparing
his most subtle temptations for you, just as Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil immediately after
His Baptism and His Father's testimony, "This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased."
2. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He afterward was
hungry. I suppose that He was not "hungry" during His long fast, and
this renders it a fast altogether by itself. We are here told, "He
afterward was hungry."
3. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. "You can do it if You
are, indeed, the Son of God. You are hungry, therefore feed Yourself.
Your Father has forgotten You. His Providence has failed You! Be Your
own Providence–work a miracle for Yourself." How little the tempter,
with all his knowledge, understood the true Character of Christ! Our
Lord never worked a miracle in order to supply His own needs.
4. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by
bread, alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
He had been attacked as a man who was hungry, so He quoted a text which
evidently belonged to man–"Man shall not live by bread, alone." It was
a wilderness text. It concerned the children of Israel in the desert,
so it was suitable to the position of our Lord in that wilderness. He
meant to let the tempter know that as God once fed man by manna from
the skies, He could do it again. At any rate, this glorious Man, this
true Son of God, was determined not to interfere with the ordinary
working of Providence, but He left Himself and His needs in His
Father's hands.
5, 6. Then the devil took Him up into the Holy City and set Him on a
pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God,
cast Yourself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge
concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any
time you dash your foot against a stone. "It is written." Thus the
devil tried to turn Christ's own sword against Himself–that two-edged
sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God! And the devil can still
quote Scripture to suit his own purpose. Yet it was a misquotation as
to the letter of it, for he left out the essential words, "to keep you
in all your ways." And it was a worse misquotation as to the spirit of
it, for in the true meaning of the passage there is nothing to tempt us
to presumption. There is a guarantee of safety when we are walking
where we should walk, but not in leaping from a temple's pinnacle down
into the abyss!
7. Jesus said to Him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord
your God. Here was a plain, positive precept, which clearly forbade
Christ to tempt God by such a presumptuous action as casting Himself
down from the pinnacle of the Temple! And we must always follow the
precepts of Scripture whatever the tempter may say.
8. Again, the devil took Him up into an exceedingly high mountain
andshowedHim all the kingdoms ofthe world, and the glory of them.
Notice that these temptations were in high places. Alas, high places
are often full of trial, whether they are places of wealth and rank, or
of eminent service in the Church of God. A pinnacle is a dangerous
position, even if it is a pinnacle of the Temple. And the summit of an
exceedingly high mountain is a perilous place even if the view from it
is not the poverty of the city, nor the sin of the people, but the
glory of the kingdoms of the world. Even with such a view as that, the
mountain's brow is full of danger to our weak heads.
9. And said to Him, All these things will I give You, if You will fall
down and worship me. Why, they were Christ's already! They never
belonged to Satan and, though, for a while, he had, to some extent,
usurped authority over them, it was only his impudence to offer to give
away what was not his own!
10. Then Jesus said to Him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written,
You shall worship the Lordyour God, andHim only shall you serve. Let
the bribe be what it may, you must not worship or serve either yourself
or the devil! Your God alone claims your homage. And if the whole earth
might be yours through one act of sin, you would not be justified in
committing it.
11. Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered
unto Him. What a change! When the devil goes, the angels come! Perhaps
some of you are just now sorely tempted and much troubled. Oh, that you
might speedily come to Mahanaim, of which we read, "And Jacob went on
his way, and the angels of God met him"–that there you might be met by
troops of angels coming to minister to you, weary with the conflict
with the Evil One, just as they ministered to your Lord! You need them
as much as He did and, therefore, you are as sure to have them if you
look up to Him and ask Him to send them to you.
–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Ages Software,
1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.